Limbo
by Wolf of Summer
Summary: Zero Requiem went as planned...but Lelouch has to find his place in the afterlife. To do this, he's been sent back to Earth as a ghost.
1. Chapter 1

**PLEASE READ:**

**Okay. Because of general awfulness in this fic, it's going to be finished rather quickly with few to no edits to the chapters already posted. If I ever get around to fixing it, I will, but for right now enjoy it as is.**

**BTW, for my purposes, everyone's memories were fixed once Lelouch had died. (Meaning that Milly and co. remember Nunnally)**

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. Unfortunately.

**Chapter 1**

Rain poured down among the war-torn streets. It was nighttime, and the only open convenience store was dimly lit, struggling to survive among the destruction. Every now and then, someone would pass by. Cars were rare—people hurried through the rain on bicycle or foot, mostly. Nobody noticed the boy standing on the corner in the rain. He was looking up at the sky, unmoving. He didn't even flinch as a car suddenly turned the corner, raising a wave of water that soaked his shoes.

At least, the water _should_ have soaked his shoes. The boy acted as if he hadn't even felt it. Raising a hand above his head, he watched in fascination as the big drops of rain fell straight through it, leaving only cold feeling behind. Turning, he looked for his reflection in the darkened glass of a closed clothing store. A familiar face stared back at him. The same black, chin-length hair framed a pale face in which intelligent violet eyes were set. A red jacket, nice black pants, and a black sleeveless turtleneck. He chuckled, remembering a much more uncomfortable white outfit.

Then he blinked. _Wait, what am I thinking? Why am I even here? Could it be…I'm still alive?_

But he knew that couldn't be the case. Indeed, a sword had pierced his heart, and he even remembered his death. Yet he was moving around a familiar city. So, he decided to look around for a familiar face. _I guess I could start at Ashford, if it's still there. How long has it been?_

_ Barely a month, Lelouch. _A voice echoed in his head, curiously and painfully familiar. It reminded him of bubble gum and time spent playing in the grass as a young child before the war. _You've only been gone for a month; there hasn't been time for much change._

_ Euphie. _Lelouch sighed her name within his head. There was a bit of surprise, yes, but he'd been prepared to meet her sooner or later. _I am dead, correct? That's what I planned, so…_

_ Why are you still there? _Euphie asked, anticipating Lelouch's stalled answer. _You could say as a punishment. Or a gift. Either way, you're in limbo. _

_ Why?_

_ I don't know—it was decided by someone higher up than I am. And I think you have to do something before you can proceed._

_ Fine. _Lelouch could feel Euphie's voice fading from his head. _Euphie?_

_ I have to leave now, Lelouch. We'll talk again. _

_ Euphie!_

_ What?_

_ I'm…I'm sorry. For everything, really._

Warmth and sincerity radiated from her voice as she answered. _I know. I forgive you. Good luck._

And just like that, Lelouch was left alone, staring at his reflection and feeling oddly heavy. He tried to turn around, and his limbs felt weighed down. He was happy to have talked to his lost sister but…_A punishment? That I understand. But a gift?_

Then, Lelouch looked up at the now-night sky. It was a time that he usually would have been asleep by, but…

_ Can ghosts even sleep? That's what I am, right? A ghost._ It made sense really. He couldn't touch raindrops, people seemed to be ignoring him, and he was hearing dead people's voices. Besides, when people thought of ghosts, they said they were souls 'in limbo,' right?

Suddenly, Lelouch was filled with a longing to see what had happened. Was Nunnally okay? What about his other friends? How was…'Zero' faring? He wanted to know, but was faced with the crisis of how to get there. He stumbled across the street, narrowly missing a car—or so he thought. Did his hand just pass through the door? Unsure, he stopped and sat under a tree in the park on the other side of the street. The rain was slowing, and Lelouch closed his eyes.

oOo

By the time Lelouch next opened his eyes, the rain had stopped and he was staring up at a ridiculously sunny sky. Groaning, he sat up.

_Euphie?_ He whispered in his mind, feeling a bit stupid. _Hello?_

About ten minutes later, Lelouch was about to give up in disgust when he heard a faint _Yes?_

_ Um…Do you know how the whole being a ghost thing works? _

_I can say you're basically like a human. You can sleep, move, walk, and even touch things sometimes. And…_Here Euphie trailed off, sounding uncertain.

_And? _Lelouch prompted, his eyes narrowing involuntarily.

_Well…you can speak to people sometimes…but…_

_ Well?_

_ It's rare, and even then few people actually believe what they're seeing or hearing._

Lelouch groaned, already feeling tired of conversation in his head. _I'm basically alone for the rest of my 'punishment.'_

_Not true. You just have to find someone. It may be rare, but the closer you were to someone in your life, or the more attuned they are to their surroundings, the easier it will be to see or hear you. There are other ghosts that will be able to talk to you, too. _

_ How long does it usually take a ghost to find what they have to in order to decide their fate? _Asked Lelouch.

_ Um…the lucky ones already know what they have to do. _

_ So I'm an unlucky ghost. What a surprise. How long does it usually take?_

_ There's no set number, but there _are_ some ghosts are still around from medieval times and such…_

Lelouch sighed. So he could be alone on Earth even longer than any of his still living friends. _I guess I deserve that._

_ There are some benefits._ _Some ghosts even have extra…abilities. I've only heard of a few, but things like flying, or allowing humans to become invisible by touching them, or, in the rarest case, allowing humans to see them by simply touching them. Mostly, though, these skills only activate in order to help the ghost find what they need to in order to…well, 'move on.'_

_ Let me guess, I have the ability to walk through walls? _Lelouch remembered his hand passing through the car that had almost hit him. _What a wonderful consolation prize. I shall use my abilities for all they're worth. _He thought as sarcastically as he could.

_Considering you can't usually touch or move anything, it's the next best thing. It's not an extra ability though. _Euphie paused as if she was about to add something else but seemed to decide against it. _I'll leave you by yourself, now. It won't do you any good talking to me; just hurry up and find what you're supposed to look for. Be careful!_

And with that, she was gone. Lelouch exhaled, wondering if he could speak normally.

"So, all I have to do," He said aloud, surprised that he sounded just as he always had. "Is find the one thing that's keeping me from heaven or hell—but _I don't know what that thing is_! But of course, I'll be stuck here until I find it. This must be like immortality, only worse. I can't even play _chess_ with anyone."

Lelouch looked around. He felt tired, but he realized he had to decide what to do next. _Well, it's only been a month. It would be nice to see a familiar place. _

Though he didn't have a clue how to get there, Lelouch started walking, figuring he had all the time in the world anyway.

oOo

It took him about four hours to make it over to Ashford. Standing at the gates of the beautiful school, Lelouch felt that it was worth it. The calm campus, in the middle of classes, lightened the burden he felt on his chest. _If that makes sense. I mean, do ghosts even have real forms or are we just souls?_

Nevertheless, walking through the familiar campus made him feel lighter, as if he was still alive.

Once he passed his old home, though, all thoughts of happiness disappeared from his mind. Now he wasn't thinking about the place, but the people.

_ Nunnally, Suzaku. Kallen, Milly, Rivalz, Nina, Gino, Anya. Even C.C., I suppose. _Lelouch even missed those he'd only had the pleasure of knowing for a short time. Looking around to see if anyone had spotted him (not that it mattered, he was a ghost anyways), Lelouch walked purposefully towards his former home.

He glided through the door, half expecting to hear his sister say "Welcome home, brother!" and see that Suzaku had beat him there already in anticipation of the plans they often made during school. Instead, he was greeted with a punishing silence as the light wind he made as he moved stirred the light dust that covered everything in the room.

Lelouch reprimanded himself for thinking something so good could have possibly happened. _I should have known. Of course there's no one here…Nunnally and Suzaku are out fixing the world I destroyed. The last thing on their minds would be coming back to an old school to reminisce. _

Still, he felt the need to walk through his old home. The table where he'd once sat with his sister and folded cranes, where he'd eaten and tutored his friend, where he'd just _talked_ and enjoyed their company—it was now empty, the vase on it that usually contained flowers—also empty.

He heard voices outside the window, and moved so that he could see the path outside. _Oh. Milly and Rivalz. Why are they here? Milly should have graduated._

He watched them until they disappeared into the building below him. Lelouch leaned against the window, contented to lazily watch students until he heard the door open behind him. He froze before he remembered that he couldn't be seen.

"It's gotten dusty in here." Milly's voice echoed through the empty rooms.

"That's what happens when you don't clean a place for so long." Rivalz swiped a finger along the table, making a face at the dirt he picked up. He sneezed suddenly, causing both Milly and Lelouch to flinch. While Milly laughed, Lelouch ghosted over to look at his friends, standing directly in front of them.

Milly looked the same as she always had—bubbly, smart, and cunning—but Lelouch could see the sadness that tinged her blue eyes, making them seem as if they contained tears.

Rivalz had the same sadness in his eyes, and as Lelouch watched, he glanced around the room.

Milly stopped laughing and sighed. "I wish…"

"What?"

"I wish everything was the way it was before…When I was still Prez and we had culture festivals, and Nunnally, Nina, Kallen, Shirley, Suzaku, and L-Lelouch were all there…" She paused, tears pouring from her eyes. "A-and, I wish they still lived near here and we could see Nunnally and Kallen and Nina more often than just every now and then…and the way Shirley and Suzaku and Lelouch died…Gods, they were all so _young_…"

Rivalz moved over and hugged her, his hand moving between her shoulders in small, soothing circles. Lelouch turned away, several disjointed thoughts running through his mind.

_So they still believe Suzaku's dead…that's good._

_ They don't hate me for what I've done? That hurts. It would have been much easier for you to move on if you'd just let yourselves hate me._

_ I wonder—no, I need to see how Nunnally and Suzaku are doing._

_ I wonder if Suzaku's happy that I died. Nina probably is. _

_ I hope Kallen managed to go back to school. I wonder if she's made up with her real mother._

Another sob from Milly brought him back to his senses. Feeling terrible, Lelouch reached out a hand to try and comfort her.

His hand passed through Milly's. Lelouch nearly gasped with surprise before remembering.

_Right. I'm a ghost. I can't interact with anyone. I can only watch. _He thought darkly, getting up and exiting the room, allowing his friends to have some privacy.

oOo

As Lelouch walked around the Ashford Campus, he was only dimly aware of the approach of the end of the day. He didn't pay any attention to the students that passed him until he saw a familiar flash of red.

He turned and yelled "Kallen!" before running towards her. She couldn't hear him, but Lelouch was happy to see another familiar face. And it made him happy that she had gone back to school. As he got closer, Lelouch recognized the startup key for the Guren hanging around her neck.

Kallen was a smart girl. She'd been loyal to Zero for the longest, even when she knew his identity. Even as the Demon Emperor had died, Lelouch had seen her screaming for Suzaku to stop, for Lelouch to get up. Lelouch knew that she'd figured out his plan, and probably knew who the new Zero was as well. He hoped he hadn't caused her too much pain or suffering in the time he'd been alive, but really…he was grateful. That there had been someone so trustworthy by his side for such a long time.

Feeling like a stalker, Lelouch followed Kallen as she exited the school grounds and began walking home. They'd been walking for quite some time when suddenly Kallen stopped. Lelouch, who'd been following her only by watching her feet, nearly collided with her. He looked up.

_Oh…This isn't good…_

oOo

**Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

So…yeah. I don't own Code Geass. Enjoy!

oOo

**Chapter 2**

Kallen and Lelouch were facing two tall, muscular guys. Lelouch looked at them with distaste.

For a few seconds, Lelouch was almost worried for Kallen. Then he remembered that he wasn't with Kallen Stadtfeld, the weak, sickly girl that he'd only seen during school. No, he was standing next to Kallen Kouzuki, fighter and Knightmare pilot extraordinaire.

One of the men made a grab for her schoolbag. What followed really wasn't much of a fight.

As they walked away from the unconscious bodies, Lelouch admitted to himself that he probably should have been more afraid of Kallen while he was living.

oOo

"Mom, I'm home!" yelled Kallen as she walked through the front door of her apartment. Lelouch heard a faint "Welcome home." from the kitchen. Lelouch followed as Kallen kissed her mom on the cheek and went to toss her schoolbag in her bedroom. He lingered there, even after Kallen had gone back out to the kitchen to help her mom start dinner.

Kallen's room was small but comfortable. It had a desk, a bed, a closet, and a small night table. A big window looked out over the street. Looking around, Lelouch noticed a corkboard that covered part of one wall. Pictures covered it. Lelouch saw Kallen's family, her friends, and…himself. Before he'd become Zero.

He missed those innocent times. Not the whole I-was-banished-by-my-father part, but the times before he had to be constantly worried about whether or not someone was going to find out he was Zero, and the times when friendship had just been so…easy.

Lelouch stood and looked at the pictures for a long time. He didn't even realize that he'd been there for at least two hours when Kallen walked in, breaking him from his reverie by walking right through him.

Lelouch yelped at the same time as Kallen. The redhead hugged herself, rubbing her shoulders. "Brr…Weird, the air conditioning isn't on."

Meanwhile, Lelouch was recovered from what it had felt like to feel his whole body shift as a large amount of mass (meaning Kallen) walked through him. He coughed, and jumped when he heard Kallen yell "Who's there?!"

Turning slowly to face her, he waved a hand in front of her face. "Kallen?"

But Kallen didn't hear him. "Hm, I must have imagined it." And with that, she glanced at the pictures on her wall with a sad smile on her face before sitting down at her desk to begin homework.

Lelouch took one last glance around Kallen's room, and, suddenly feeling like an intruder, turned to Kallen one last time.

"Kallen, I know you can't hear me, but…" Lelouch trailed off, trying to find the best way to phrase how he felt. "You were one of the most solid things in my life. I knew that I could trust you to do what I needed, right up to the end. I'm glad you're back at school now. I hope you don't miss anyone too much. And…Thank you."

With that, Lelouch left the room. As he swept out, he didn't see Kallen glance up, feeling as if she'd just witnessed something important.

oOo

Lelouch wandered through the streets. It was an interesting feeling, to not have to sleep. He could sit and watch the sky slowly move as the night wore on. He didn't even watch where he was going, and it wasn't until a car nearly ran him over that he actually stopped to realize that it was morning and he'd wandered to a place that he'd always held close to his heart.

He gazed up the stairs at the familiar place. That stupid, impossibly long staircase. The trees framing the stairs. And at the top of the stairs…a reserved, yet beautiful shrine. The Kururugi Shrine.

Looking around, Lelouch noticed that it was still early enough for him to be one of the few people on the streets.

_I shouldn't be here, I have to…wait, who am I kidding? I've got all the time in the world. _

Taking a deep breath, Lelouch started the laborious climb to the top. It took far less time than it had used to take him. Lelouch wasn't yet used to the fact that his new body, not being made of the usual muscle, skin, and bones didn't require as much effort to move. In fact, it required almost no effort at all. Just the conscious want to move his limbs.

At the shrine, Lelouch looked around, ghostly memories seeming to fly by.

Look, that's where he'd first met Suzaku.

Where he'd first introduced him to Nunnally.

Over there's the tree they got in trouble for climbing.

The shady area of the courtyard where he'd hidden during Hide-and-Seek and it'd taken Suzaku an hour and a half to find him.

The place where Suzaku had squashed his face into the ground as Lelouch had asked him for a favor.

The place they'd come so close to admitting a mutual truce.

Lelouch sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and looked up. The sun was high overhead, but he couldn't feel its rays, or its warmth. It was a curious feeling, to know that he should be warm but instead feel cool. Not cold, because that would count as feeling something, but cool.

At a loss at what he should do with himself, he walked to back over to the stairs and sat down at the top. Below, people walked by, no doubt with their own schedules and places to be.

Lelouch leaned against one of the wooden pillars by the sides of the stairs and closed his eyes.

oOo

A short time later, a presence moved past him. Lelouch's eyes flew open. He looked up.

_No…It can't be…_

oOo

**I really do like practicing my cliffhangers. Mwa ha ha! Tell me how I'm doing, please. Also, suggestions for the future chapters appreciated. I've got a really, really loose plan, but I'd love to hear from you.**


	3. Chapter 3

So…next chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Sadly.

oOo

**Chapter 3**

An achingly familiar set of eyes was staring right into Lelouch's face. Eyes that were crystal clear with youthful innocence. Eyes that were only just beginning to enjoy the light of the world again.

Lilac colored eyes.

Lelouch wanted to call out, to yell, to embrace, but he was frozen in surprise. Inside his head, his thoughts raced at a hundred miles a minute.

_Why is she here? I had her set up to be next in line after me…_

_ Where's Zero, then? I asked him to protect her, to be her guard! When I find him I'm going to…I don't know, haunt him or something…_

As his thoughts trailed off, Nunnally reached out towards Lelouch. He felt his dead heart skip a beat. She was looking right into his eyes, and he lifted a hand to meet hers, but…

"Cornelia, look at this butterfly!" Nunnally reached through Lelouch's chest towards a flower that was behind him.

Lelouch sagged. He slipped to the side, moving so his sister's hand was no longer touching him. Sadly, he watched as his other sister, Cornelia, leaned over Nunnally to see what she was pointing at.

Lelouch followed them for the rest of the day. From what he'd gathered, Cornelia and her knight, Guilford, had smuggled Nunnally away from her duties as an Empress to allow her the day off.

Lelouch learned that everything had indeed gone as planned—Nunnally had taken the role of an Empress who, backed by her siblings, was working to allow the world to become peaceful again. He gathered that Nunnally knew who Zero was, but no one else did, though some people were likely to have their suspicions. Kallen, for example.

As he listened to his two siblings speak, freed from the stuffy formal meetings they were joking about, Lelouch made a decision. As they prepared to leave, he followed as Cornelia and Guilford, who'd come with them as a precaution, maneuvered Nunnally down the stairs. _How_ they'd even gotten her up to the shrine, Lelouch would never know.

A car was parked at the bottom of the stairs. Guilford held the door open for Nunnally and Cornelia (and Lelouch, who slipped in behind them) and climbed into the front, where he gave the driver instructions to return to the palace. Lelouch glanced at Cornelia and chuckled. She looked incredibly out of place sitting patiently in the backseat of a car rather than the cockpit of her Knightmare.

He allowed himself a glance at Nunnally, and immediately wished he hadn't. She was stunning, really. His perfect little sister, with her beautifully innocent eyes and her angel-like face. Lelouch could see grief there too, and that he understood. Mentally, he cursed himself for having caused his precious sister so much pain.

Unable to bear watching her, he stared listlessly out the window. Trees, houses, streets passed. Little children walking along holding their mother's hands. Elderly couples strolling along the streets. A peaceful aura.

None of it mattered to him. Yeah, he was happy at the peace he'd created. But it was practically hell to be stuck on the earth, surrounded by peace, and not be able to interact with it.

After a while, they arrived at their home, and Lelouch was surprised that he recognized it. It was the giant mansion that had been his home for his short reign as emperor. _You would be the one that wanted to stay here, Nunnally. _

As they walked towards the house, Lelouch ran his fingers through his sister's hair every now and then, knowing that, while she couldn't feel it, he could. At least, he could feel his fingers being displaced as the touched something solid. It made him feel the tiniest bit better, while at the same time reminding him, that he was doomed to his life (death?) of loneliness.

Once inside the house, Nunnally and Cornelia were surrounded. Advisors, maids and various other attendants all voiced their concerns at once.

"Princess Nunnally, we were so worried when we couldn't find you this morning!"

"We have some very important things that we must go over!"

"Can you look at this document before we send it off to…"

"Princess Nunnally, you must…"

"Look at this…"

"Princess…"

"ENOUGH!" A strong voice silenced all the others. Everyone jumped, even Lelouch. Footsteps echoed ominously on the tile floor, and Lelouch looked up with everyone else to see a familiar face.

oOo

Please R&R!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. Meh.

Now I present…Chapter Four!

**Chapter Four**

The man who'd effectively quieted the entire room strode in, footsteps echoing strongly against the silence.

"Prince Schneizel…our apologies." Those who'd been assaulting Nunnally immediately sought forgiveness from the intimidating prince.

"Do not forget that she is _Empress_ Nunnally now, either. Leave! I'm sure what you're assaulting her with can wait until later." With a single hard glare at the servants, he sent them on their way. The last few backed out of the room at last, bowing and apologizing profusely.

Lelouch had been watching the entire time, unsure what to think of this Schneizel. Was he on Nunnally's side? It certainly seemed that way. That would mean that he was loyal to the royalty, possibly still under Lelouch's Geass, and, because Lelouch had died, the obedience had been transferred to his younger sister.

Lelouch couldn't have been happier. Well, he could have, but that wasn't the point. Cornelia and Schneizel were both loyal to Nunnally, which meant she had two extremely powerful people supporting her ascension to the throne, despite her young age.

Schneizel waited until the last servant had left the room before turning to Nunnally.

"How was your day, Princess?" He asked, an adoring tone in his voice. Lelouch stared, his mouth open in surprise, as Schneizel's personality did a complete U-turn. He'd gone from a commanding prince to a doting older brother in just seconds. Wait…where had Lelouch heard that before…?

In any case, Lelouch didn't have the time to ponder, because his sister was being wheeled away as she chatted with her older siblings about various treaties that had yet to be finalized. Lelouch, having nothing better to do, followed them, thinking _Well, I could at least take a look at these treaties that they're talking about._ He needed some justification as to why he was still following around people that couldn't see him.

As they walked through the halls, Lelouch was surprised (and a bit annoyed) to find that Suzaku—no, Zero—was nowhere to be seen.

_He definitely understood that I wanted him to stay behind and help my sister create a new world, right? I thought I'd been perfectly clear that I wanted him to be her closest companion. She needs someone to guide her. Where is he?!_

It was really frustrating not being able to ask people what he needed to know. And he couldn't Geass anyone if they couldn't see him.

Lelouch was beginning to wonder if ghosts haunted people because they'd all gone crazy from the lack of a social life.

oOo

Lelouch was bored out of his mind. He'd been sitting in the same spot for the past three hours, watching his sister chat with Schneizel about pointless things while Schneizel played chess against Cornelia. While watching Schneizel constantly beat the pants off of his overconfident pink haired sister was amusing, he'd gotten tired of yelling advice to Cornelia (_No, no, no! Not there! That's a perfect way too—oh, now look what you've done, he's gotten your queen!)_ after the second hour.

It seemed like they were all waiting for something, but for the life (death?) of him, Lelouch couldn't figure out what it was. And not knowing something always drove him insane.

Eventually, Cornelia, having lost for the fifth time in a row, looked out the window and commented that it was getting a bit late.

"I guess he'll get here tomorrow, then?" Asked Nunnally hopefully. Lelouch's ears perked up at this. _He?_

With that, the live siblings left the room, turning off the lights as they went. Lelouch remained, feeling it would be a bit…_awkward_…to follow them while they got ready for bed.

Getting up, he went and sat down in Schneizel's recently vacated seat, resting his fingertips on either side of the chessboard. He glanced out the window, letting the sight of the rising moon wash over him. Another sleepless night staring him in the eyes.

When watching the moon move toward the middle of the sky became too boring—or, more boring than before—Lelouch got up and stretched casually.

_Might as well put my free time to good use._

oOo

As a ghost, Lelouch found that he was much more comfortable in the dark. For one thing, there were less people to worry about walking through.

For another, he could be fully awake and alone with his thoughts, whereas before he'd been forced to find solitude during the daytime hours if he ever wanted to think clearly.

Eventually, Lelouch resurfaced from his thoughts long enough to realize he'd wandered through most of the mansion. He was currently facing a shut door. Soft, sleepy breathing came the other side of the door. Curious, Lelouch entered, to find a peaceful young Nunnally sleeping in a lavish queen-sized bed.

He was about to step towards her when he noticed a presence outside of the window. Curious, he wandered over, ghostly breath causing the light curtains to sway slightly. He expected to see a bird or see a tree flowing with the breeze.

What he didn't expect was to see a large and very real object dive through the window and through Lelouch.

"Argh?!" Lelouch yelped as his form suddenly distorted. He sputtered, whipping around to face the offender—only to find an empty space.

"Wha—" He started to say, only to see a movement over by Nunnally's bed. A dark figure was leaning over her as she slept, one hand reaching out towards her.

He scrambled over to the side of the bed, arms outstretched over his sister's peaceful form. "Don't you _dare_ touch her, you bastard!" Because, as the thought process in Lelouch's head indicated, what type of person would climb into a teenage girl's window in the middle of the night?

Exactly. But of course, because Lelouch was a ghost, he was completely powerless to do anything, and the shadowy figure simply ignored Lelouch and bent to wake Nunnally.

She stirred, and glanced up at the face above her, the one Lelouch couldn't see. "Oh, it's you. Welcome back." Then, realizing it was past midnight, she asked "What's the matter?"

A voice that was very familiar to Lelouch answered. "Nothing much. I just need to get you to a slightly less vulnerable space for the time being."

"I know that's not the only thing that's happening. It's those terrorists again, isn't it?"

Lelouch's ears perked up at this piece of information. _Terrorists? I definitely had as much hatred focused on me as possible when I died—who could possibly be objecting to a perfectly peaceful world?_

The dark figure chuckled. "As always, you can see right through me, Princess Nunnally. But, it'd be best if we moved from this spot, _right away_."

With that, he picked up Nunnally, taking care not to jostle her too much, and sprinted out of the room just as more shadows appeared in the window behind a still-shocked Lelouch. He was still trying to figure out what had just happened. Terrorists? And was Nunnally's friend who he _thought _it was?

It wasn't until the shadows had passed him and revealed themselves to be black-clothed men wielding guns that Lelouch broke from his daze. Leaping up from his bent position beside the bed, he went sprinting down the hallway after them, following the sounds of fighting.

oOo

So I was writing this while listening to _Kiss_ by Prince…and this image popped up in my head of Suzaku as the singer. Took me forever to stop laughing. I mean, can you imagine him singing that high?

Anyway…tell me if anything seems terribly out of place, it's been a while since I watched the series.

Review please!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Don't own Code Geass. Meh.

oOo

**Chapter Five**

Lelouch burst into the grand foyer of the mansion to observe a picture of chaos. The windows were shattered, and Sayoko was throwing shuriken from a doorway while the men that had followed Nunnally's savior through the window had upended a table and were furiously shooting bullets towards Sayoko. Cornelia and Schneizel were doing their best to help from the awkward angle of the second floor.

To say that he'd freaked out when the first bullet had passed through his chest would have been an understatement. Once the shock had passed, though, Lelouch remembered that he was a ghost, and, as a ghost, therefore immune to anything human.

So, he dashed through the scene, flinching every time he felt a bullet pierce his body. Ducking past Sayoko he swore he saw her glance up at him as he continued sprinting towards where he somehow _knew_ Nunnally and her savior had gone.

He found them in a small sitting room right by one of the side doors that led out to the garden. Apparently a few of the black-clothed men had stayed outside in anticipation of Nunnally's escape that way.

The pale light of the moon revealed Nunnally's savior for the first time—and Lelouch instantly recognized the extravagant purple clothes and the smooth black and purple mask.

_So you didn't abandon her after all._ Lelouch mused. Two gunshots broke him out of his daze. Zero was protecting Nunnally with his body, keeping her inside the house as he shot at the offenders just outside the door. Poor Nunnally was trembling, but had kept her head and was bandaging a wound on Zero's thigh with a rag from her nightgown as he stood over her.

He heard Zero suppress a curse as a bullet pinged off of his helmet. He ducked back from the doorway, carefully pushing Nunnally further out of harm's way. A window crashed elsewhere in the mansion as Zero waited, observing an uneasy temporary cease-fire with Nunnally's would-be assassins.

Lelouch took the chance to inspect Nunnally and Zero. Nunnally was shaking, but she wasn't as visibly scared as Lelouch thought she would have been. He berated himself for thinking that way—he'd long since known that she was a lot stronger than he'd previously given her credit for being.

Moving on, Lelouch looked up at Zero. The masked figure's muscles were shaking from what seemed to be a mixture of exhaustion and adrenaline. He was standing slightly crouched over Nunnally, leaning against the doorframe to compensate for his wounded leg, and was holding his gun up in a 'ready' position. Every now and then, he would chance a quick look outside.

Lelouch looked were Zero had. Two offenders were crouched behind trees in the garden while three of their comrades lay on the ground, apparently dead. Lelouch smiled mirthlessly. _Well, Zero's efficient, I'll give him that._

Then, just as quickly as the cease-fire had happened, it ended. Lelouch flinched again as yet another bullet rocketed through his forehead.

Meanwhile, Zero had known for a while now that he wouldn't be able to take Nunnally to the safe house from that exit, and was doing his best to protect her while he instructed her to hide in a safer place within the room. She eventually managed to hide herself beneath a small table that had a thick cloth thrown over it.

Everything seemed to be going fine—Zero had managed to kill another assassin and was currently carefully watching the other. So carefully, in fact, that he didn't see the man who had run into the room behind him.

The man had a kunai jutting out of his shoulder, and by the looks of it, he wasn't going to live much longer. But he certainly had enough life left in him to raise his gun at the only person he could see in the room—Zero.

Lelouch watched as everything moved in slow motion. Zero had finished his battle with the last assassin outside, and was slowly turning towards the one in the room. Said assassin tightened his grip on the gun, and the end flared as he shot a bullet straight at Zero's heart.

"NO!" Screamed Lelouch, and, moving faster than he thought possible, he darted in front of Zero, facing the attacker, arms outstretched, desperately trying to protect him despite knowing that it would be useless.

As the bullet flew closer and closer, Lelouch thought he heard a familiar voice whisper his name behind him.

oOo

**MWA HAHA CLIFFHANGER!**

**I really appreciate reviews. ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Code Geass. I don't own it. **

**oOo**

**Chapter Six**

Lelouch shuddered as he felt the bullet enter into his chest—and then screamed in pain as he felt it stay there, lodged where his heart would have beat had he still been alive. He fell to the ground, writhing as he clawed at his chest.

Somewhere outside the cloud of pain in his head, he thought he heard another gunshot. Lelouch had stop worrying, caring, even thinking, though. All he felt was pain, pain, endless pain.

He didn't know how long he lay there. It felt like years and years of torture as the fire inside his chest slowly ate through his heart.

After a time, Lelouch was pretty sure that he'd gone insane. All he could see was a blinding white light, and all he could feel was the ache in his chest. He thought he heard whispers around him, but he eventually convinced himself that it was just an overactive mind trying to cope with insanity.

After what felt like hundreds of years, Lelouch began to regain his sight. At first, all he noticed was the plush carpeting that he could see right in front of his eyes.

Then, as he began to gain control of his muscles, he managed to lift his head and look around. He found…a sitting room.

_This seems…familiar._

_ Of course it is. You just don't remember. _

Lelouch flinched at the sudden invasion of his mind. _Hello again, Euphie._

His pink-haired sister immediately went in to a mother-hen-like rant. _What were you thinking? You just had to go and somehow stop a bullet—do you have any idea what you did?_

_ Um…no. Actually, for once I actually have no idea what's going on._

_ You've just managed to stop a bullet with your own body, but your essence is doing its best to break it down so that you can move again. You've got to be careful—if you have too many pieces of the human world in your body, you'll be stuck there._

_ Well, how was I supposed to know that? _Lelouch sighed. _How long until I can move fully again?_

_ Given that it's taken you about a week to be able to move your head, I'd say…about a month._

_ A month?!_

_ Or more. _

_What?!_

_ Well, you did take in a part of the human world. Most humans wouldn't even recover from such a wound. You should count yourself lucky that you heal, and heal _this _quickly._

_ But what am I going to do for a month?_

_ Erm…think of some way to cure cancer?_

_ Euphie! I'm serious!_

_ So am I. You can't move for the next month. Deal with it. _She exited Lelouch's mind in a huff.

_Argh, wait! _Lelouch was well and truly pissed at this point. His mind was racing with things like _what if Sayoko comes in and sees me, I swear she felt my presence before _and _Oh Gods, there'd better not be a hole in this shirt from that bullet _and _How am I not going to go crazy over the next few weeks _and _Just what had I heard and from who at that second that I'd been shot?!_

Once he'd managed to calm down a bit, Lelouch tried to content himself with coming up with as many different chess scenarios and their routes to victory as he could. In this fashion, he managed to keep his mind occupied for the twenty-three hours that it took for someone else to walk into the room.

It was his and Nunnally's faithful maid and protector, Sayoko. She noticed him looking at her immediately, and went over to kneel in front of him.

"How…?" Lelouch trailed off.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake, Master Lelouch." She smiled at him.

Lelouch repeated his half-formed question.

"Shinobi tend to be quite attuned to their surroundings. Because I knew you for a good portion of your life, I was able to become aware of your presence."

"That's…good to know. Sayoko!" Lelouch did his best to meet her eyes. "What happened with the assassins and Nunnally and—Zero?"

Sayoko smiled reassuringly. "Nunnally is perfectly fine. She's become strong. The assassins are gone, and we're hard at work tracking down who sent them. We've cleaned everything up. And," Here she paused, a twinkle in her eyes. "Suzaku is fine as well."

Lelouch blanched. Sayoko continued.

"I'm well aware of your plan. And you needn't worry, only Nunnally and I know the current Zero's identity. Though we think that one Kallen Kozuki might be a bit suspicious."

Lelouch nodded, then let his head drop tiredly back to the carpet. "Can you come and visit me once in a while? I think it will be about a month or so before I can move again." _And I don't want to be lonely._

"Of course." Sayoko whispered, getting up to leave. She'd read between the lines and understood Lelouch's unspoken words. "I must go now, but I will come back whenever I can."

With that, she strode out of the room. Lelouch felt a momentary pang of sadness before he suddenly cursed himself.

He'd forgotten to ask her if Nunnally or Suzaku or anyone else knew of his existence as a ghost.

oOo

**Reviews are much appreciated. **

**Also, one thing I keep forgetting to do: THANK YOU so very much to everyone that's reviewed so far. You've been very helpful.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Behold…Chapter Seven.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. Meh.**

**oOo**

**Chapter Seven**

A full week passed before Sayoko managed to make it back to the little-used sitting room to talk with Lelouch.

This time, Lelouch was prepared and immediately sprung his question on her.

She answered "I'm not sure if anyone else knows about you. Suzaku _does_ know that he somehow managed to avoid being hit with a bullet that should have hit him, though."

"So he's fine?" Lelouch murmured, mostly to himself. "That's good…"

"How are you feeling?" Sayoko looked at her charge with worry.

_Well, if you count the fact that I can't feel anything below my chest, I'm perfectly fine. _"I'm fine, Sayoko, thanks for asking. It'll take me a few more weeks to be able to move more than just my arms and head." To show her, he lifted both of his arms and used them to prop his head up. His expression hardened as he spoke his next thoughts. "Any leads on who my sister's would-be assassinators were sent by?"

"We haven't had much luck." Sayoko admitted.

Lelouch was surprised. Sure, Suzaku and Cornelia weren't very good at strategical thinking, but Schneizel was there to help him. He was the one person that Lelouch considered anywhere close to being his equal when it came to that, and even _he_ hadn't managed to figure out who'd dare try and kill his sister.

Lelouch was really, really close to screaming in frustration. Because if there was one thing he'd learned as a revolutionary, if he wanted some serious planning or thinking done, he needed to do it himself.

However, throwing a temper tantrum wouldn't get him anywhere, so he forced his mind to calm down as he looked up at Sayoko. "Well, please tell me if you do figure something out. I do want to be able to help."

With a gentle understanding nod, Sayoko stood and gestured towards the door, a guilty expression on her face. Lelouch could almost read her mind. She didn't want to leave, but, as the head maid and Nunnally's own personal attendant, she couldn't be missing for long. With a thankful wave, he sent her off, and dropped his head straight back into the fluffy carpet as soon as she was gone.

Time passed slowly. Lelouch realized there were so many ways someone could play a chess game, or review a book, or reminisce about old times before they simply went crazy. Lelouch felt very close to that point.

_Look at me, anyway! I was once Lelouch vi Britannia, Lelouch Lamperouge, the Demon Emperor Lelouch….and now, Lelouch the Floor Carpet!_

Okay, he needed to stop. Insanity would be a very bad thing. Thankfully, he was distracted at that moment by a different presence entering the room. The sun had gone down by then, so when Lelouch lifted his head to look, he could only make out the outline of a tall, thin figure.

_Who…?_

"Um…Are you there?" The figure called out, and immediately Lelouch recognized its voice.

"Suzaku?!"

Suzaku continued speaking, acting as if he hadn't heard Lelouch. "If you're there, I just wanted to say, um…thanks. I think. I mean, you stopped a bullet for me, right? Lelouch…"

A terrible realization hit Lelouch. _He can't see me._ Tentatively, Lelouch called out. "Suzaku, I'm over here."

"So, anyway, if you're there…Gods, I feel so stupid for talking to an empty room like this—but I could have _sworn_ I'd seen you—if you're there, I just wanted to say…"

Lelouch waited with bated breath as Suzaku paused again.

"I don't know, it just seems so silly, but…I'm sorry. I really should have resisted your plan more and now…well, if you're a ghost, you're stuck on Earth for _some_ reason, right? And I can't help but wonder if I took you away from it all before you could and that some of this could be my fault…"

Lelouch watched the figure with horror. '_No, no, it's not your fault!' _he wanted to scream. _"You need to move on! You need to forget me, help Nunnally be happy, and keep the world peaceful, not regret killing me!" _But Suzaku continued, voicing everything he'd kept bottled up under the mask of Zero since Lelouch had died.

"and, if you're really there, you shouldn't be afraid to show yourself to me and Nunnally, we won't be sad, we promise, we would just want to see you again, even if it's just one more time."

Suzaku's tall figure paced around the room, and Lelouch caught sight of his knight's face. He gasped.

Tears glistened on Suzaku's cheeks, betraying the true emotion behind his words.

Lelouch felt like crying himself. _I didn't want you to be sad, Suzaku. You were supposed to kill me in hatred. You will never know the truth behind my command to Euphie, and you need to hold onto that hatred of me. _

"Anyway, Lelouch, if you're even here—I could have sworn I'd seen you!—just know that we miss you, and I hope, even if you're on Earth, that you've found a better place, free of exiles and the like…" Suzaku scrubbed the tears from his face and squared his shoulders. "And that I plan to protect Nunnally until she no longer wants me to. And that she still visits with Milly and Rivalz and Kallen—they're still friends, sometimes I wonder if Kallen suspects who I am, she's really very perceptive..."

Lelouch listened, amazed at how happy he was to hear about his friends' daily lives. He chuckled when Suzaku mentioned Kallen, and silently agreed, remembering how she'd shivered when he'd passed near her.

Eventually, Suzaku fell silent. He glanced around one more time. "Lelouch…" he whispered sadly. Then, he turned on his heel and left, having spoken all that had been on his mind, and that he could express to a seemingly empty room.

Lelouch's only regret was that he'd been unable to respond. He'd noticed, though, that as Suzaku had been talking, a warmth had spread through his chest and body. Experimentally, he lifted himself, pleased to find that the only things that he still couldn't move were his legs.

It seemed listening to Suzaku and hearing that his friend bore him little ill will had been a healing experience.

**oOo**

** Right. Sorry if this seems a bit OOC, I decided I wanted to write Suzaku a bit and well…I need to work on writing guys. **

**Review please! **


	8. Chapter 8

Don't own Code Geass. Meh.

**Chapter Eight**

By the time Sayoko finally managed to escape her duties long enough to come visit him a week later, Lelouch was up and stumbling around the room with one numb foot.

And when Lelouch's only explanation was "Suzaku," she immediately understood, remembering the close friendship between the boys. Lelouch asked her if she could come back in a few days, when he was fully mobile, and help guide him around the house. Sayoko was thrilled and agreed immediately, leaving with a smile that had Nunnally wondering for the rest of the day if Sayoko had a secret.

Soon, Lelouch was up and moving around with all of his usual grace. Sayoko arrived, and gave him the grand tour of the house, just to show him the few things that had changed since his stay there. Schneizel and Cornelia had taken temporary bedrooms in the guest wing, while Nunnally had converted one of the rooms next to Lelouch's old bedroom into her own bedroom. Lelouch was surprised that he hadn't noticed earlier, but in his defense he'd been otherwise occupied at the time.

Suzaku had actually taken a small room down the hall from Nunnally's, not close enough to be considered inappropriate, but not far enough that he couldn't reach her in a matter of seconds if he needed to. Sayoko occupied a room between the both of them because of her duties as Nunnally's personal attendant.

Sayoko informed him that most of the rest of the house was as it had been when he'd lived there, except for part of the library.

The changed part was a room off of the library where Lelouch had observed Schneizel beat Cornelia in several chess matches that had previously been a storeroom, albeit a rather large one.

Now it seemed to be a sort of conference/research room. The large oval table in the center was piled high with papers, while the four desks to the back of the room contained the highest-tech computers that money could buy. Lelouch glanced at one of the screens and hissed. Sayoko jumped at this extremely out-of-character action of her charge.

"Is something wrong?" She asked tentatively, trying to gauge his facial expression.

"No. I mean, yes!" He pointed to the screen where a list of suspects was displayed. "They're doing this all wrong!"

Sayoko waited patiently for him to continue.

"They're looking through lists of old criminals and suspects against the empire. The problem is that they won't _have_ a list for these people—if they haven't caught them by now, then they won't be on the list. I think I might even suspect who they are…"

Lelouch paused, thinking. "Back when I was building the Black Knights, another rebel group approached me. They called themselves the Black Hearts, and proposed a joining of forces. I actually considered it for a while, even gave a few of their members a test run, before realizing that our…personalities, if you will, were too different. The Black Hearts believed that absolute slaughter of all Britannians, including those back in the mother country, was the only way to victory and the only way to serve justice, whereas the Black Knights, under my ideals, only wished to free Japan.

We had a…falling out. It wasn't made public, and no one except for me ever actually knew that the few members who had attempted to assassinate me were from the Black Hearts. Everyone assumed they were spies from Britannia.

Afterwards, they made a few attempts to overturn the Black Knights, and a few more assassination attempts on me and some of my top commanders—Kallen, for example. By that point, however, they were too small to make much of a splash and had too low of a recruitment count due to their ideals. The only problem was that, they managed to follow my ascent to the throne. Suzaku was able to deflect most attempts on my life, and you remember helping more than once throughout my rebellion, right?"

Sayoko was startled. She'd been listening so carefully to the young ghost that suddenly being directly addressed surprised her. "Of course I remember. How could I forget?"

Lelouch continued. "So, the main reason why this won't work is because they simply won't have information on the Black Hearts since they were almost exclusively my enemy once I denied them access to the Black Knight's resources.

The reason they're a problem now is because of a threat one of my last would-be killers said right before he was executed. He said that the group would kill me and those I cared about as revenge. I'm assuming that they've decided to target Nunnally first because of her position of power and as one of the people most precious to me. Though _why_ they see fit to continue this past my death escapes me. I also _know _ that this is their doing, because I recognized one of the men—the one who shot me was one of the few who'd managed to get away with an attempt on my life when I was emperor. He is—well, _was_, at this point—one of the Black Hearts' most loyal members. I say this because his presence there means that this was almost undoubtedly a strike by them.

And now, the only problem now is figuring out how to tell this to Schneizel and Cornelia…" Lelouch mused aloud.

"Maybe I could tell them?" Sayoko asked, wanting to be helpful. Lelouch's expression melted from one of frustration to a cross between worry and gratitude.

"I appreciate that you'd want to help, and I'm not trying to undermine your idea, but I don't think you were central enough to my…plan to suddenly know something like this. I don't think anyone really knew about the Black Hearts except perhaps Kallen and a few of my other close advisors. And Suzaku might remember them a bit, but he obviously can't say this in meetings." He paused, a crease appearing between his eyebrows as he thought.

_It would be best if I revealed this information, but that's of course impossible. Kallen would be able to, considering how she used to be a Black Knight, but it would be better if Zero mentioned this, given his higher ranking as a military man. The only problem is figuring out how to get Kallen to tell Zero, or even just how to tell Zero. _

Sayoko watched with interest as the teen thought. She could tell that he knew what he wanted to do but didn't know how to do it. So, she decided for him.

"Master Lelouch, I will be going for now. There are some duties I must perform. There will be a meeting in this room in approximately a half hour, so you can wait until then and see what they've discovered themselves so far. Prince Schneizel, Princess Cornelia, Empress Nunnally, and Zero will be there. Who knows, you might even find that you'll be able to communicate with someone else!"

And, not giving Lelouch a chance to protest, she swept out of the room, smiling only once her back was turned towards him. She'd recently suspected, by the way she'd seen Suzaku acting a few nights ago, that she wasn't the only one who'd glimpsed Lelouch.

Lelouch, for his part, was almost too deep in thought to realize what she'd said. He shrugged it off, mentally noting to thank her later.

oOo

Schneizel sat down at one end of the table and looked around. "So." He said. "What do you have for me?"

Lelouch watched from a corner by the door as, one by one, the various researchers and excellent military men spoke until they realized that, collectively, they'd had a progress rate of…zero percent.

Which was a bit ironic, with the man that embodied that number sitting at the other end of the table.

Bored, Lelouch wandered over until he was standing just beside Schneizel. The man was practically steaming while he tried to contain his anger that his 'prey'— meaning Nunnally's would-be assassins— could evade him so easily and for so long.

From his vantage point at the head of the table, Lelouch was content to watch as everyone argued.

Except for Zero. He remained rather silent, only adding a point here or there. It made Lelouch wonder whether or not Suzaku really had the confidence to be in this sort of meeting. _I wish I could speak to him, find out what's really wrong. He's definitely capable enough to be Zero. _

Lelouch watched as Zero took down a few notes on the paper in front of him. Curious to see what he was writing but not really all that eager to fight through the people that crowded either side of the table, Lelouch walked straight through towards Zero, ignoring the people that were now on either side of him.

However, he'd forgotten that even ghosts can sometimes affect the people and objects around them, as was proved by the stacks of papers that he'd walked through suddenly whirling around the room as if blown by a strong wind.

Lelouch never got a chance to see what Zero was writing as Schneizel hastily ended the strategy meeting in order to collect the paper. Lelouch decided to wait outside. He didn't really feel like watching grown adults trying to catch runaway paper like they would butterflies.

_Well. That was a productive day. I learned…nothing. Actually, I know more than Schneizel does right now. _

He watched with a detached feeling as Cornelia dashed past, trying to keep all of the criminal profile papers together. Lelouch barely resisted the urge to facepalm. Honestly, sometimes he felt that when he'd died he'd taken everyone's maturity with him.

oOo

By the time all the papers had been gathered, Schneizel had decided it was simply too late to bother trying to continue the meeting. He'd dismissed everyone in a grand fashion, delaying only Zero and Cornelia. Of course, Lelouch stayed behind as well.

Schneizel waited until he was absolutely sure that they were alone before speaking.

"As much as I hate to be the one asking the questions instead of answering them, do either of you have any clue, any _inkling_, about who might want to hurt dear Nunnally?" He asked, wearily rubbing his eyes with one hand.

Cornelia maintained a decidedly regal posture as she denied having any ideas. Lelouch watched with horror as Zero's shoulders slumped just the tiniest bit and he shook his head.

Schneizel sighed in frustration, as he realized that they'd spent the last four hours debating just to get right back to where they'd started.

oOo

That night, Lelouch went to find his sister. Even though he knew Nunnally couldn't see him, she was still the most comfortable person for him to hang around.

Lelouch hated to admit it, but seeing Suzaku in the Zero outfit simply held too much meaning and too many memories for Lelouch to feel comfortable around him. It wasn't even Suzaku himself—it was the memory of the cold face of Zero shoving a sword unceremoniously through Lelouch's chest.

Lelouch shuddered, tracing a hand across the place where the sword had entered him as he slid through the door to his sister's room.

And there she was, his precious sister. Asleep, with her beautiful chestnut hair spread around her like an aura. Lelouch sighed, wishing he could hold her hand while she slept like he once had. Instead, he settled for _very carefully_ perching on a nearby armchair to make sure that he didn't fall through it.

Then, he closed his eyes, and entered an almost meditative state as he held his vigil by her side.

oOo

Rustling and sounds of contented stretching woke Lelouch from his self-imposed sleep. He slowly opened his eyes, widening them in alarm as he realized he was staring directly into a pair of lavender irises.

He might have passed it off as a coincidence had Nunnally not smiled and whispered something just loud enough that he could hear it.

"I _knew_ it!"

oOo

**Suggestions and reviews are much appreciated!**


	9. Chapter 9

Right, I don't own Code Geass. I _do _own this plot. So nyeh.

Enjoy!

oOo

**Chapter Nine**

Lelouch lost his control and fell through the chair.

"Wh-what?" He asked, getting up and standing awkwardly as he watched his sister. She continued to grin, looking like a child on Christmas Day.

"I _thought_ Sayoko was acting a little weird, and I just knew there was someone in the car with me on the way home from the Kururugi Shrine." Nunnally laughed.

Lelouch was horrified. Not because he was finally able to communicate with his dear sister (because if he was being honest, he was quite happy about that) but because he thought that his being there would only serve as a constant reminder of what he was: just a ghost, nothing more. And he didn't want his sister to have any more painful memories.

Unsure of where to start, he tentatively said "I hear that you're the Empress now."

The grin disappeared from Nunnally's face. Lelouch mentally scolded himself. _Of course_ he had to go and say something that would remind her just who she'd replaced.

"I spoke to Schneizel and Cornelia. They said it'd be best if someone who hadn't been as involved in the war was the new leader. I'm not _really _an Empress, but I help keep the peace through democracy. My official coronation was just about two weeks after you…died." She trailed off. Lelouch tried to salvage the situation by switching topics.

"How's everyone else doing?"

Nunnally glanced up again. "You've already seen Sayoko. Schneizel and Cornelia have decided to become my allies. I saw Milly, Rivalz, and Kallen at my coronation—Jeremiah said he'd fixed their memories, though I'm not entirely sure what he meant by that. He and Anya are moved away into the countryside so that they could have some peace. On an orange farm, no less."

Both Nunnally and Lelouch stopped to chuckle at that.

"Kallen's still a Knightmare pilot, but that's just as an escort for me when I need one. You know, because she was your Ace, and we can't use the Lancelot—though Lloyd's working on making it look different to Suzaku can use it and _yes_, I know about Suzaku— it's one of the most effective ways to keep people from attacking me."

"Until now."

"Ah. So you've been here that long?" Nunnally asked, feeling guilty for some reason.

Lelouch didn't say anything, opting just for a slow nod. "I saw. You seem to be having problems, which reminds me—"

He was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. "Empress Nunnally?" A familiar voice called.

Nunnally looked at Lelouch, silently asking if he minded being interrupted. He gestured towards the door. "I don't think it's usually a good idea to keep him waiting."

"Come in!" Nunnally called.

The door slid open, revealing Zero accompanied by Sayoko. "I'm here to talk to you about the next few days, Empress."

The door slid shut behind them, and Nunnally said "Remove your mask, Suzaku." While Sayoko caught sight of Lelouch and grinned at him.

"But Empress—"

"And just call me Nunnally, I've told you hundreds of times. Don't worry, Sayoko knows who you are already. She isn't a shinobi for nothing."

Lelouch watched as Zero carefully reached up to take the mask off, the back sliding up to reveal chocolate curls. Then Suzaku's eyes came into view, and Lelouch was shocked at how dull they were.

He'd long known that the only way to make Suzaku accept being alive would be to give him the 'punishment' of being Zero, but he'd never known just how grieved Suzaku could be over the death of several friends, including his (despite the war that had happened between them) best friend.

"Um…were you talking to someone before, Emp—Nunnally?"

Nunnally's smile slipped for just a second and both she and Sayoko glanced over at Lelouch. He shrugged at them.

Suzaku saw them glance over at the armchair, and, like any good knight, went to investigate. And, before Lelouch could react, walked right through the ghost on his way to the chair.

Lelouch yelped indignantly. Suzaku flinched, and Lelouch was close enough to see him shiver. "What was that?" Suzaku muttered under his breath.

Meanwhile, Nunnally was staring wide-eyed at her brother. He shrugged nonchalantly and said to her "It happens all the time. Don't worry about it."

Sayoko hid a polite giggle behind her hand. Nunnally followed suit as she saw the confused look on Suzaku's face, and pretty soon the two females were laughing like crazy, despite both having usually calm personalities.

Poor Suzaku was left staring helplessly at them, wondering what the heck had happened and if there was something in last night's dinner or if both had just suddenly lost their minds.

Lelouch decided eventually that enough was enough. He poked Suzaku once in the stomach and watched with interest as the soldier shivered, clutching the now frozen part of his body. Lelouch chuckled, walked over to where Nunnally now saw on the edge of her bed with her blanket around her shoulders, eyes closed in laughter, and knelt in front of her. He placed his hands on either side of her face, and she immediately stopped laughing at the sudden coldness she felt.

"He can feel my presence." Lelouch told her matter-of-factly, wincing as he realized he sounded like a seer.

Nunnally nodded the slightest of nods, but Suzaku still saw her. "Nunnally, are you alright? You've been acting a little, uh… weird this morning."

"I'm fine, Suzaku. I'd tell you if anything was wrong." Nunnally smiled, trying to be nonchalant as she looked up at him.

Suzaku was silent for a moment before pressing her "Are you sure?"

Lelouch, who knew his sister far better than Suzaku did, caught her pause.

"Do you want to tell him?" He asked, brushing one of her hands with his own. Nunnally nodded slightly, something that could just be seen as a slight shift of the head, and Lelouch smiled at her.

"Well then, Sayoko and I will help you." Lelouch stood and glanced at the shinobi-maid, who brought her eyes to his and blinked slowly in understanding.

"How should I explain to him?" Asked Nunnally aloud, not bothering to be discreet anymore. Suzaku snapped to attention.

"Explain what to whom, Nunnally?" He asked, worry coloring his voice.

"Hm…" Lelouch's brilliant mind was calculating the most delicate way to break the news to Suzaku that the man he'd killed had come back as a ghost. "Why not just tell him? I can use the cold feeling I leave when I touch someone as your proof."

So, Nunnally decided to be blunt.

"Lelouch is a ghost."

If Suzaku wasn't a soldier trained to be ready for almost anything, Lelouch was pretty sure that he would have…well, run screaming out of the room or done something equally drastic.

As it was, his green eyes widened so much that he looked like an owl, and he stuttered "W-w-w-what?!"

"You don't believe me?" Asked Nunnally. "You can talk to Sayoko. She was the one who saw him first."

Sayoko nodded towards where Lelouch was now standing next to his sister. "I first sensed him on the night of Nunnally's attempted assassination." Nunnally smiled as she heard her name and not what she usually believed to be a useless honorary title.

Meanwhile, Suzaku looked very disturbed. "I believe you, I think. I would have been shot that night had something not stopped it, and I heard someone—well, it sounded like Lelouch—yell just before it would have hit me. Then the bullet disappeared."

Nunnally turned to stare at Lelouch questioningly. He sighed. "Yes, I did try to protect him that night. And I think I succeeded."

Nunnally wished she could still hug her brother. He looked incredibly lonely, unable to participate full and watching the conversation as if almost completely detached.

Suzaku caught her glance. "Is he…here, right now?"

Lelouch gave an evil grin. "Answer him 'yes' and follow me with your eyes, Nunnally. This'll really freak him out; he's being too calm and gloomy."

The little girl did as he said and laughed as Suzaku's face showed a panicked expression as she watched Lelouch walk slowly towards the brunette. Since he couldn't see Lelouch, he was probably really nervous that a (possibly) vengeful ghost was advancing on him.

Lelouch paused before the now visibly shivering Suzaku. Though he didn't know it, Suzaku was staring straight into Lelouch's eyes. Lelouch lifted his arm and placed his hand lightly on Suzaku's shoulder.

Surprisingly, he both saw and _felt_ Suzaku flinch. "Nunnally?" The knight squeaked.

"Yes?" The girl asked, grinning.

"Is the...Is Lelouch standing _rightinfrontofme?_" Suzaku rushed, somehow managing to look both hopeful and terrified at the same time.

Nunnally paused for a moment, twirling a strand of hair around her head. "Um, yes." She paused. "Lelouch, weren't you saying something before Suzaku came in?"

The ghost looked up at the ceiling, thinking. "…Yes. I think I know who's behind your attempted assassination."

Sayoko immediately focused on the ghost with renewed interest. "If you tell Suzaku, he can present it at the next meeting with Schneizel and the researchers."

"Okay. Can you relay what I say to him, please, Sayoko?"

"But of course." She said respectfully, pausing and waiting for what he would say next. Meanwhile, Suzaku was utterly lost. After all, he still couldn't see or hear Lelouch.

"What about the meeting? What did I miss? Um, Nunnally?" Suzaku spoke up, even managing to sound a bit of the boy that he still was.

While Suzaku tried to get answers, Lelouch was busy thinking of the best way to give them. "Okay. Ask him if he remembers some of the assassination attempt made against me while I was emperor." He directed Sayoko.

Suzaku answered 'yes' immediately when Sayoko asked.

"Okay, now tell him to think about this: Did he ever think that some of the more…organized ones were linked?"

Lelouch paused as this information was relayed to Suzaku. He waited as Suzaku took in this new information, and turned to watch his sister carefully. Under previous circumstances, he would have wanted her out of the room, but she was the Empress now, and had a right to know who was after her and why. Which reminded him…

"Sayoko. Tell Suzaku that whoever was after Nunnally could very well be after him as well because he is the one protecting Nunnally, as well as the one that denied them their direct revenge on me by killing me."

As Suzaku received this idea, his eyes widened in an incredibly guilty face. _Shit_ Lelouch swore mentally. _I need keep from reminding him of that…It wasn't his fault! I planned it! This is so frustrating. I need to be able to speak directly to him!_

_I can tell you how to. _

Lelouch yelped, having been so immersed in his thoughts that he hadn't felt the pink-haired girl's presence in his mind. "Euphie?!"

Oops. Had he said that aloud? Lelouch looked around. Judging from Sayoko and Nunnally's shocked faces, he had.

"Euphie?" Nunnally whispered, prompting him to explain. Unfortunatly, Suzaku also heard her and immediately cast his gaze around, becoming more and more frantic by the second. Now he really looked scared, and Lelouch could almost hear him thinking _Are there two ghosts here now? Both of them have the right to be angry at me for something—I failed to protect both as their knights! Are they here for revenge?..._And so on.

"Nunnally. I need you to explain to him that Euphie is a bit of a guardian angel to me. Try to calm him down while I see what she wants."

The girl nodded, looking happy that her sister was also still within contacting distance, albeit in a roundabout way through Lelouch.

Sayoko had blocked the door as Suzaku had begun inching towards it, and Nunnally did her best to explain to the rather mentally unstable boy. Who just happened to be completely ignoring her.

"Sayoko. Knock him out." Lelouch ordered. She shot him a weird look. "Just do it, please. He's not really in his right mind right now, and if he tries to go back to being Zero in this state…"

Soon there was an unconscious Suzaku laying spread-eagle on his back. He hadn't even reacted when Sayoko had come at him, and considering his normally superhuman reflexes…_Well, it's a good thing he's getting some 'rest' now, then._ Lelouch thought as he looked at the man-child by his feet.

"Alright. Sayoko, when he wakes up, try to keep him from dashing away, _especially_ if he'd still not calmed down. Nunnally, can you help me calm him down and explain? He really needs to understand what he must say to Schneizel and the others."

Both females nodded. Taking a deep breath, Lelouch knelt down and, in the absence of a bucket of cold water, pressed his icy hands to Suzaku's forehead. The brunette twitched, and Lelouch gasped as he felt what the knight was feeling: lonely, sad, tired, and, above all, guilty.

Once he'd gotten over the shock, Lelouch tried to focus as Euphie spoke within his mind. _You need to calm him. _She said.

_ How?_

_ You're connected to his mind right now. Be happy—though many ghosts have different abilities, few have this power. Give him some happier memories._

And, instinctively, Lelouch thought of some of his happiest memories with Suzaku. The days when they were young and had become friends; their time together at Ashford before Suzaku had realized Lelouch was Zero, and even in the shadow of the Zero Requiem, when they had forgiven each other for closure. These and more flowed into Suzaku's mind.

The brunette yelped. His eyes shot open, immediately focusing on Lelouch.

Somewhere in the back of his head, Euphie commented _See, you did have an extra ability. You can touch people's minds and share memories._

Suzaku sat up shakily, his eyes never leaving Lelouch's. "You're…You're really…?"

Lelouch smiled, though he knew it was far from the cheerful smiles he'd had when he was still alive and young, much younger. "Hey. Do you believe me now?"

oOo

**Reviews are awesome!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry this took so long. I've been re-editing the whole story, so the best way to understand it if you've already read this far would be to re-read Ch. 1 and Ch. 8-10. Sorry for the confusion!**

**Also, I keep forgetting to do this—but thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. I love hearing from you guys!**

**Also, I don't own Code Geass.**

oOo

**Chapter Ten**

Of the things that Lelouch expected Suzaku to do when he realized Lelouch was a ghost, bursting into tears wasn't very high on the list.

It had still been there though. Suzaku tended to be more emotional than the average male teenager, and Lelouch had known him well.

But here he was, big, fat tears rolling from his eyes as he looked sadly up at surprised violet eyes. "It's true, it's true…" the brunette murmured sadly, bringing gloved hands up to hover on both sides of the ghost's face.

Suddenly Lelouch was hyper-aware of their audience. He glanced up as Suzaku closed his eyes again and gave Sayoko a look that clearly said _Please just give us a few moments alone. _

Sayoko, with many years of interpreting Lelouch's facial expressions behind her, understood immediately and went to pick up Nunnally from the bed, saying "Why don't you go wash your face while I do your hair, Nunnally? Then you can get dressed…" as they walked from the bedroom into Nunnally's adjoining bathroom.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry…" Lelouch turned his attention back to the still murmuring boy below him.

"What are you sorry for, Suzaku?" He asked as gentle as he could. "You did nothing wrong."

"H-how can you say that so calmly?" Cried Suzaku. Lelouch would have been surprised at the sudden outpour of emotion, but Suzaku _had_ been hiding his emotions for quite some time behind a mask. "I _murdered _you, and now I've failed to protect your sister!"

He would have continued, but Lelouch stopped him with a firm "Suzaku."

"I told—no, I _ordered _you to kill me. None of the blame for that rests on your shoulders. And from what I've seen, you have done a wonderful job of protecting Nunnally. You couldn't have predicted the assassin attack, and even when it happened, you were calm, collected, and acted exactly as I would have wanted you to. And Nunnally got out of the entire ordeal without so much as a scratch."

"But—!"

"_No. _You need to _stop _blaming yourself and _start_ doing something about the problem at hand." Lelouch gave a small grin, backing away as Suzaku sat up and scrubbed the tears from his face with a black-gloved hand. "Chin up, my knight."

Suzaku managed the barest of smiles at the familiar phrase. "Yes, your Highness."

oOo

By the time Nunnally had dressed and come back into the room with Sayoko, Suzaku was speaking seriously with Suzaku about how he should go about breaching the topic of Nunnally's assaulters to the council.

To Sayoko, the sight of the two boys (both 19, still technically teenagers) sitting cross-legged on the floor and deep in an easy, friendly-intense discussion was actually quite familiar scene, despite the fact that one of them was noticeably transparent when the sun hit him the right way and the other was dressed as a terrorist-turned-savior.

Nunnally was torn between wanting to spend time with her beloved brother and letting him catch up with his best friend. In the end, Lelouch looked up and caught her watching them with an incredibly conflicted expression.

"Nunnally. I want to make sure Suzaku understands what he has to say with the council. Then I promise we can talk and catch up as much as you want."

His reassuring tone swayed her, and she smiled brightly as Sayoko helped her into her electric wheelchair and they went to get breakfast, leaving with the promise to bring food back to Suzaku who couldn't eat in public because of his mask.

When the door slid shut behind them, Suzaku immediately rounded on Lelouch. "What's this about Euphie being your guardian angel?"

"Ah…heh, about that…" Jeez, he hadn't been expecting that. _What the heck am I supposed to tell him? That the Princess that I killed is protecting me?_

_ Why not just tell the truth? _Euphie piped up in his mind.

_What good would that do? _Lelouch asked. _It'll only make him feel worse. _

_ But it'll clear up the reasons why I'm your guardian. _

_ So it'll turn you into the girl that I killed out of mercy instead of the one I killed out of cold blood. Still no better—I murdered you either way, Euphie, I'm so sorry—_

_ LELOUCH. _The ghost winced at the sudden loud voice in his head. _Have you ever stopped and thought that Suzaku might feel worse about killing you than you did about killing me? You were a brother to him. I was a sister to you. You killed me out of mercy. He believes he killed you because the world demanded it and that you were innocent._

_ And?_

_ And he will understand if you tell him the truth—if anything, it will make him feel better that you didn't kill me in cold blood. _

_ He'll feel worse because he'll have lost his reason for killing me._

Euphie sighed, a sad, small puff of breath. _Suzaku NEVER saw killing you as revenge for my death._

_ …Fine._ It still irked him that Euphie was so good at winning arguments against him. As usual, she was hard to hold a grudge against for long.

Lelouch focused again on the expectant boy in front of him. "Euphie is my guide—guardian angel, if you will. It has to do with the fact that, along with being my most precious sibling apart from Nunnally, that she understands my actions and doesn't want me to be sad."

Suzaku's brow furrowed, and he adopted an expression close to a mixture of anger and confusion. "But you killed her. She forgave you?"

"She knows why I murdered her. In fact, she's the only one who does."

"…What?" Suzaku was totally focused on Lelouch now. "Explain."

Despite being a ghost and _knowing_ Suzaku couldn't hurt him, Lelouch was still a bit frightened. _Erm, do you really think this is a good idea Euphie?_

_ Do it, you scaredy-cat. He doesn't hold a grudge against you for killing me as much as he does against himself for killing you._

Lelouch sighed, took a deep breath, closed his eyes and said "Euphie'sdeathwasanaccident."

The brunette looked shocked. "Um. Say that again, slower. Euphie's death was…"

"An accident. Not the actual death part, but the running around and telling people to kill the Japanese…"

"Yes?" Suzaku prompted him, eyes alert.

Lelouch was battling with his own emotions. As he'd started talking about it, memories had come back to him, of red-rimmed violet eyes, bloodstained pink hair, and thin arms that were meant for holding a teacup, not a machine gun. He felt tears welling in his eyes as he glanced up at Suzaku and managed an emotionless smile.

"Did you ever stop to wonder when my Geass became permanent?"

Suzaku looked confused, before his eyes began to widen in horror. "You don't mean…?"

"I was playing around, showing off a bit. Saying how I could get her to do anything I wanted…like kill all of the Japanese."

Suzaku sucked in a breath. "You—"

"The only way to stop her would have been to break the Geass—and I didn't think that Jeremiah's Geass Canceller was possible at that point—so I saved everyone else the guilt of having to kill her and did it myself. That is part of my punishment." Lelouch looked down at the hands he'd folded in his lap. "If you still…hate me, then I understand." He realized Suzaku wasn't saying anything.

_So he does still resent—_

The thought was interrupted as warm hands lightly brushed his shoulders.

"Never _once_ did I ever believe that I was killing you out of revenge." Suzaku was staring straight at Lelouch, earnest and strong.

Lelouch smiled gratefully. Suzaku copied him and both of them stood up before Suzaku spoke. "Now that we have that cleared up, how about breakfast?"

"Um…" Lelouch looked down at his slightly transparent stomach.

"You probably can't eat, right?"

"Well, I've never tried."

As if on cue, a light knock came from the door. "Zero? I'm here with some food. Kallen's here too."

Lelouch glanced confusedly at Suzaku.

"She's here because she wanted to keep the Guren, but feels that she shouldn't get such a gift unless she gives something back, so Nunnally made her one of my subordinates. She knows who I am—don't give me that look! She figured it out during the Zero Requiem."

Lelouch's reply was cut off as Suzaku replaced his mask and called "Come in!" in Zero's deep voice.

The door slid open to reveal Sayoko pushing Nunnally, who had a large tray of food on her lap. Kallen walked in behind them, nodding towards Zero.

Suzaku waited until the door slid closed and Sayoko took up a position in front of it before removing his mask at a gesture from Nunnally. Lelouch noticed as Kallen's tense position relaxed at seeing a familiar face instead of a mask, even if the face had been her enemy for most of her time in the Black Knights.

_She must have been so relieved to find that she didn't actually kill an old friend._ Lelouch thought. He didn't notice her as she glanced his way and grinned a bit.

Nunnally did, however, and raised an eyebrow at her. Discreetly, she made a shushing motion with one hand when Lelouch wasn't looking, then asked Suzaku "So, what's it like being Zero?"

"I—it's, um…" Suzaku stuttered, unsure how to answer with the previous Zero in the room. What was he supposed to say, that he was amazed Lelouch had managed it without having a hair out of place? That was just what the ghost needed, another thing to boost his ego.

Behind him, Lelouch was chortling silently. He caught Kallen's eye, and pointed to her, then to his own eyes, then himself with a questionable look, miming _"you can see me, can't you?"_

She nodded almost imperceptibly, and focused a piercing glare at Suzaku. "Well?"

"Um, it's, um, interesting…" Suzaku trailed off, finally aware of the mirth in Kallen's smirk. "You can see him, can't you?"

"See who, Suzaku? I don't know what you're talking about." She was having a hard time keeping her face straight.

"Cut it out Kallen, I know you're talking about Le—" Suzaku stopped suddenly, realizing how much of an idiot he'd sound if he blurted that out and was in fact wrong. Not to mention how insensitive he'd sound. He turned slightly towards Lelouch and looked at him with helpless eyes.

Lelouch was full-out laughing now. Recently, the rush of emotions had him euphoric. As the Emperor, he'd been unable to show his emotions. Now that he didn't have to worry about what the whole world would think, letting his feelings show on his face was a blessing. He watched as Suzaku's expression changed from 'helpless puppy' to 'you're screwing with me, aren't you?'

"Kallen." Lelouch said, once he'd calmed down enough. "How long have you known?"

"I thought I felt a draft in my room a bit more than a month ago. That wouldn't have been really unusual had I not distinctly heard someone say 'thank you' before the draft disappeared." Kallen peeked around Suzaku, who'd been standing in between them, so she could look more directly at Lelouch. "That was you, wasn't it?"

Lelouch nodded slowly. "I—"

A sharp, business-like knock on the door interrupted him. "Lord Zero. Prince Schneizel requests your attendance at the latest strategy meeting. They are waiting."

"Tell them I will be there in five minutes, and that I am bringing Kallen Kozuki with me."

"Yes, sir." The occupants of the room remained silent as fading footsteps announced the servant's retreat.

"Why am I going with you?" Asked Kallen.

"Because I could use the views of someone who hasn't been mindlessly staring at the same data for the past month. You'll be the one to suggest that maybe the ones who attacked Nunnally were those who held a grudge against Lelouch. You've defended him and yourself from them a number of times as well. I know Lelouch wanted me to present because of my higher status, but it would be better if you said it so that it didn't seem suspicious that I suddenly came up with a new idea a month into research. Lelouch—can you explain it to her on the way?" Suzaku glanced over at the ghost.

"Of course. I'm attending the meeting as well."

"I wouldn't dare try and stop you." Suzaku grinned as he put on his Zero mask and strode out of the room with a respectful goodbye to Nunnally and Sayoko. Kallen followed, Lelouch floating along next to her and explaining in a feverishly fast voice all that he'd figured out over the past month.

oOo

**So. Kallen's back. I couldn't resist—she's my favorite female character.**

**Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

At first, Schneizel wasn't very happy to have a teen crashing his ultra-important brainstorming party (Little did he know that one had already been doing so the entire time, disguised as a former masked terrorist). Nunnally was still banned, of course. God forbid she hear any of the scary things that were said during these meetings. This spunky redhead, however, who'd apparently been Zero's Ace and was currently one of the top Knightmare pilots in the world, had an interesting charisma about her.

So then he'd stopped, at Zero's insistence, and really listened to her. Listened as she detailed what had _really_ happened behind-the-scenes before anyone, even the Black Knights, had known Zero's true identity. How Zero had (of course) had people after his life, and how he'd managed to make his guard's job even more difficult by denying a particularly vicious group called the Black Hearts access to the Knights' resources.

Schneizel ignored the fact that the former Zero had probably made the Britannian forces' job easier by turning down potential allies. For now anyway. There wasn't any denying the fact that Zero had been his little brother at one point.

The redhead continued her story, even mentioning how she'd been the target of more than a few attempts. She also told how she knew that those attacks and the one on Nunnally were related based on the descriptions of the men she'd heard from Zero and Sayoko, as well as the promise that she'd heard from one of Zero's attackers that had gotten a little too close for comfort before his execution.

She told how this man and a few others knew Zero's identity, and promised to get their revenge not only on him, but on those he held dear as well. Unfortunately, as the first Zero had been Lelouch, the Black Hearts' main target was now Nunnally.

Of course, this didn't go over well with Schneizel or Cornelia. After extensively grilling the redhead on her credentials ("I was Zero's Ace, jeez, what more credentials do you people need?") and having Zero confirm that she was who she said she was (though she'd like to _dare_ someone to pretend to be her), he finally turned to Zero and asked "Well?"

"Uh…What?"

"You're Zero. Obviously not the first one, but, well…What do you think?"

"I…er…" Zero glanced over at Lelouch, who was leaning inconspicuously against the wall in a corner.

Lelouch glared at him and motioned towards Schneizel. _"Tell him."_ He stage whispered.

"I…yes, I do believe that this is the work of the group called the Black Hearts. After working with Kallen and a few other publically known former members of the Black Knights, I've managed to gather enough information about these…terrorists to determine that my predecessor's refusal to allow them the resources of the Black Knights made them angry. It seems that their views were too radical even for the Black Knights. They believed in the slaughter of _all_ Britannians, which is probably why they are targeting Empress Nunnally now."

Of course, that wasn't the whole truth, but Schneizel didn't need to know that.

oOo

By the end of the meeting, the small task group had made a little progress. It wasn't anything to be thrilled about, but considering they'd been working with nothing for a solid month, everyone was in high spirits. They'd even managed to locate a possible hideout of the Black Hearts using Kallen as a mouthpiece for Lelouch.

However, Lelouch was worried that his intel was woefully out of date. It had been at least two or three months since he'd done anything in the way of trying to locate the Black Hearts, and as the eve of Zero Requiem had drawn closer, he'd become more and more withdrawn into himself. He was loath to admit it, but he'd basically stopped caring. The Black Hearts hadn't bothered him, so he'd ignored them.

Despite his worries, though, everyone was enthusiastic. The group broke for a late lunch, and Kallen and Lelouch followed Zero outside to the garden to meet Nunnally and tell her what was going on—as per her orders. She didn't want Schneizel to baby her, and though she'd loved her Lelouch for trying to protect her, she knew that, as the Empress, she would have to be able to put herself in danger and hear some things, no matter how terrifying, if she wanted to stay in touch with current events.

Lelouch was proud of her.

oOo

Over the next few days, Schneizel, Cornelia, and Zero prepared a mission for their best pilots. Though Knightmares had essentially disappeared from some Areas, they were still abundant in a few others where civil unrest was still rampant.

Zero and Kallen called in a few favors, and soon a mish-mosh of pilots stood at the ready to infiltrate the assumed hideout which, according to Lelouch, was near where it had all started—the Shinjuku Ghetto.

Kallen had found Gino—who, it turned out, she was actually on quite good terms with. Gino had, in turn, recruited Anya. Anya, of course, had dragged Jeremiah with her.

Any misgivings that Schneizel and Cornelia had withered in the face of Kallen's icy glare.

Cornelia, for her part, recruited a few of her still-loyal followers, but had put her foot down when Guilford, who was still adapting to piloting again with his worsened vision, tried to go as well. Guilford had hinted that he'd be going anywhere that his princess went, so Cornelia had allowed him to come—he was still a top pilot after all, and she was a warrior at heart, and wouldn't be kept from the battlefield.

Schneizel and Kanon would be staying back to protect Nunnally and command from afar, and Zero, of course, would be joining Kallen and the others on the battlefield.

These and a few of Cornelia's own troops would make up the small invasion team.

oOo

The night before the operation, Lelouch had questioned Suzaku about his part in this.

"You obviously can't use the Lancelot. That would be too much of a giveaway."

"Lloyd and Cecile have been working on it for me. They know who I am—they were privy to your plans, if you remember. Anyway, it's actually turned out really nice. Wait'll you see it."

"Would there be room for…never mind."

Suzaku grinned a bit as he flopped over in his bed to stare that the ghost in the armchair. He took a stab at answering what Lelouch had been asking. "You could probably fit behind the pilot's seat. Normally that wouldn't work but, well, I guess being able to walk through things will help."

Tentatively, Lelouch looked up and smiled.

oOo

**I could have kept writing here…but I didn't. The next chapter's already written anyway.**

**Anyway—OMG—I was randomly searching 'Lancelot' on Wikipedia and got to the page about it…and found that 'Sir Lancelot' in the Knights of the Round table was actually the most loyal friend of King Arthur's nephew—'Sir Gawain.'**

**The Code Geass Wikia says the Knightmare Gawain (the one Lelouch steals from Schneizel) was meant to be named after Sir Gawain, but I'm really happy I discovered that myself. *pats self on back***

**Now that you've listened to me rant, would it be too much to ask for a review?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

…They'd left without him.

Lelouch was pissed. He was beyond pissed; he was irritated, annoyed, angry…and worried.

Actually, it wasn't even Suzaku's fault. He _had_ been onboard the new Lancelot (now painted dark blue and with a few structural adjustments, as well as a new nickname—Phantom. Suzaku had told him that the energy wings were now white. He'd closed the cockpit, and Lelouch had gotten all settled. Everything had gone fine until Lelouch had tried to shift and fallen right out the back of the Knightmare. Stupid ghost powers.)

By the time he'd figured out what had happened, the Phantom had been launched along with the rest of the force, and Lelouch had been left in the dust.

His first priority became finding a way to know what was going on. Lelouch went dashing through the mansion, trying to remember where Schneizel had mentioned he'd be directing the forces from.

Lelouch thought back about his new power. _The ability to touch people's minds and share memories. Does it work both ways?_

The question was posed half to himself and half to Euphie, though she seemed mysteriously…absent.

Unperturbed, Lelouch decided to test his theory. As he thought about it, it seemed a bit like C.C.'s ability to call up the worst memories a human had in order to disable them. Hopefully his didn't turn out to be nearly as bad—and perhaps a bit more flexible, seeing as he'd been able to more or less navigate Suzaku's mind.

A young soldier walked by the doors for the hangar. Running a few steps to catch up with his military gait, Lelouch fell in step next to him. With a glance at his face, Lelouch identified him as a junior member of Cornelia's personal corps.

With a deep breath, Lelouch followed him into an elevator and, once the young man stilled, pressed his hands to the soldier's forehead.

With a gasp, he found himself overwhelmed by memories. Struggling to focus, he concentrated on Schneizel's image, and followed a thread until he found the cache of memories for the soldier that had Schneizel in them. Thankfully, there weren't many, leading Lelouch to believe that the soldier mainly dealt with Cornelia instead of Schneizel.

A few were passing memories of seeing Schneizel speaking to Cornelia, Nunnally, Zero, Kanon…there! Lelouch focused in on the memory—Kanon and Schneizel bending over a console, surrounded by screens and a few tech specialists that were helping them monitor the battle. The soldier was (conveniently) returning back to that room after having gone to check the status of one of Cornelia's lesser soldier's Knightmare had failed to launch.

Lelouch lifted his hand from the soldier's head, belatedly remembering that the last time he'd done this to someone (read: Suzaku), they'd been able to see him afterward. He froze as the soldier raised a hand confusedly to his head, but the soldier's eyes just passed over him as if he wasn't there. Lelouch released a relieved breath.

Waiting until the elevator doors opened, Lelouch struck out towards the room where he'd seen Schneizel and Kanon. A couple of twists and turns later, and he was standing just outside the door, debating whether or not he wanted to see what was happening at the battlefield without being there.

The choice was taken from him as the soldier slid the door open, giving Lelouch a glimpse of the screens. As the man went to report to Schneizel, Lelouch turned and scanned the screens.

The attack seemed to be going well—the pilots back in their element with the return to their Knightmares. None had felt very good with the drop of Knightmares despite the call for non-violence around the world.

Several screens showed direct feeds to the pilots' cockpits. Zero's was, of course, restricted to sound (Lelouch had refused to pilot while wearing the mask when he could, and he expected Suzaku felt the same way), as were Jeremiah's and Cornelia's. Gino was grinning, and Anya had her usual impassive face.

Lelouch found this pair interesting. Gino was certainly the same happy teen he'd been, but even in the short time since Lelouch'd seen him, he seemed to have gained a bit of maturity (maybe hanging around Kallen had done that to him). Likewise, Anya's face had matured just the tiniest bit—lost a bit of fat, become, somehow, wiser.

Lelouch was so focused on them that he wasn't focusing on the actual action. So, when the explosion rocked the screens and cut out the few video streams, sent Schneizel and Kanon into panic-damage control mode, and suddenly nobody had any idea what was happening during what should have been a simple cleanup and recon mission, well, he was shocked to say the least.

Besides, no one could deny the fear heard in the voices of the younger pilots—the ones that had been most liable to be reckless, and, therefore, the closest to the explosion.

oOo

**I know, I know. I finally post after so long and it's a measly 800 words or so. School happened. Also, I know it's awful. I don't really have much left for this fic—it definitely won't be longer than 20 chapters. **

**Also, taking a lot of liberties with the layout of the house. Deal with it.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Little bit of Suzaku POV in this one. So sue me.**

**Also, I'm working under the fact that in this world some of the more iconic Knightmares were rebuilt. Sorry if that's not clear.**

**oOo**

**Chapter Thirteen**

"Report! Anyone? Report, even with just voice transmission!" A man standing at a screen spoke, panicked, into a microphone. He turned and addressed Schneizel. "I'm sorry; I can't seem to connect with anyone."

"I don't care! Get us a connection and find out what's happening there!"

Again, the feeling of uselessness swept over Lelouch. This had been going on for ten minutes, an obscenely long time for such high-tech instruments.

Decisions needed to be made.

He leaned forward, around the man who had recently reported to Schneizel. "Suzaku, Kallen. Anyone who can hear. I'm going to find a way to get there. I'll…figure something out." Then, in a completely un-Lelouchian way, he added "Be careful."

Hm. He seemed to be getting sappier in his…death.

First things first. Who could he find, that knew how to pilot a Knightmare AND could see him?

That last bit really narrowed down the choices, didn't it? The only two left at the mansion who could see him were…Sayoko and Nunnally. He knew for a fact that Nunnally definitely couldn't, and doubted that Sayoko could…right?

Was there any other way he could get to a battlefield as quickly as he wanted?

oOo

In the end, Lelouch was spared the worry of trying to find Sayoko as he just hitched a ride on a tank that had been commandeered along with a few trucks of foot soldiers and bomb squad members to go find out what exactly had happened at the battlefield. The fact that it was gray helped, because it seemed much more sensible that stealth be on their side instead of speed, which the brightly colored Knightmares had had. Besides, the lack of Knightmares in the peacetime was making things a bit difficult. Factories had been forced to stop mass-producing them, so a few rather out-of-date vehicles that had been on hold in the case of lack of Knightmares during the war were brought out.

Lelouch settled for sitting on top of the tank, abhorring the cramped conditions inside of the relatively primitive vehicle. As it drove carefully towards the last place the Knightmares, Lelouch refused to think of the possibility that his friends were injured or worse, instead focusing on ducking his head through the metal of the tank to catch parts of the conversation the soldiers were holding in order to stay updated.

Soon enough, they arrived at the place where the Knightmares had last been seen. Lelouch was immediately reminded of his first acts of war in the Shinjuku ghetto. Gray, blank buildings surrounded him, and rubble made the street nearly impassable.

Pieces of Knightmares littered the roads as bright spikes of color in the gray rubble and dust. An entire arm lay on the ground not thirty feet from where Lelouch sat on the tank. He recognized it as one of the Tristan's and wondered how Gino was faring—after all, his Knightmare was built to transform, but that became decidedly more difficult with pieces missing. Despite this worry, Lelouch had faith in the teen. He was, after all, the one who'd managed to catch Kallen's Guren in only half of his last version of the Tristan.

Other chunks of bright metal lay on the road, but as far as Lelouch could tell, there were no casualties. It seemed as if the small force had gotten away—but where to, no one knew.

oOo

"Ugh…" Suzaku sat up in his Knightmare. It felt weird to sit up, like there was a pressure on him…then he realized that his Knightmare was upside down. "Shit! What happened?"

"Z—o, Zero! Zero—hear us? Zero, can you hear us?" The communication sparked back to life. Suzaku pressed a couple of buttons.

"Zero here. What's our status? What happened?"

Kallen answered. "There was a chain of explosions. It seemed as if they weren't meant to cause permanent damage—or we were just lucky. But they put a few of the Knightmares offline. I can't contact anyone else, but I can see the Tristan. Gino was right near me. He protected me from the one closest to us, but the Tristan is missing an arm. We escaped here—I'll send the coordinates."

"Ugh…Alright. Give me a second." Suzaku's hands flickered around the buttons on the dashboard of the Knightmare. It flickered back to life and it automatically began to right itself.

"Kallen. You can only see the Tristan?"

Suzaku heard Kallen do a quick 360 in her Knightmare before answering. "Yeah, only him."

The screens in the Phantom flashed back on. Ahead, Suzaku could see the Jeremiah's new Knightmare, lying sideways in the rubble.

The rebuilt Mordred was crouching over it, Anya at the ready to protect her newfound friend. When she saw the Phantom moving, she shifted slightly, saluting him. His communications sparked with static before he heard her voice.

"Reporting. I am fine. Jeremiah is unconscious, but fine."

"Alright. Stay with him until he gains consciousness, and then tell me and I'll give you to coordinates of where to join us."

Suzaku turned, the Phantom's coordinate screens telling him that there were a few of Cornelia's knights a block over. He contacted them, and went to the coordinates that Kallen had given him.

Soon, everyone almost everyone was gathered. That would have been a mood booster had Cornelia and Guilford not disappeared.

No one could find them. Their communications were down, and their Knightmares weren't showing up on the screens. A strong feeling of unease was settling over the group.

Suzaku had to make the decision of whether or not to continue without them. On one hand, the rebels needed to be stopped before they did any more damage. On the other, Cornelia _was_ the first princess.

Decisions, decisions. Suzaku wished Lelouch was there. He was _so_ much better at tactical thinking.

All of a sudden, his 'live' Geass activated. That would have given him some food for thought but—"Everyone, get down!"

The world was caught up in fire as another rocket was launched towards the group. They'd been the original cause for explosions—the type to be launched from older Knightmares. They'd been abandoned in favor of more powerful weapons, but it seemed they still did damage.

Again, the Knightmares scattered, trying to avoid the projectiles that were coming at them—and yet no one could find where they were coming from.

oOo

Lelouch had jumped off of the tank the moment he heard the explosions. The vehicle that he'd been using as his throne was simply too cumbersome to make it through the wreckage fast enough. Besides, Lelouch was confident in his elevated ghostly physical abilities.

A Knightmare came out of a nearby alley and ran right through him. Well, his reflexes hadn't changed. Lelouch recognized the Guren. He was about to dash towards it when a whine behind him alerted him of another oncoming Knightmare. Holding an arm out, he latched himself as best he could to the Knightmare's leg as it rushed past on the same narrow path as the Guren.

It was the Tristan, looking rather worse for the wear. Intense fire seemed to have blistered some of the paint at the edges of its armor. Lelouch hung on tightly as the two Knightmares raced away, eventually coming to a stop. Lelouch ran over to the Guren and started climbing the armor.

He pulled himself through the cockpit's shell and onto the bench behind Kallen. She didn't notice him, so he murmured "Hello."

"AH!" Kallen shrieked, instinctively kicking a leg back.

"Kallen? What was that?" Gino's worried voice came through the communication speaker.

"Um…nothing. There was just a spider on the back of my leg."

"Kallen, Gino!" Zero's voice came through the speaker. "Anya's captured one of the rebels. I want you two to go find her, try and get some information."

"I can help." Whispered Lelouch behind Kallen. "I can look into people's memories."

Kallen nodded, unable to respond because her speaker still on, though Lelouch knew she was just about bursting with questions.

oOo

Shortly, they arrived, locating the Mordred underneath an overhanging building. She had a man at gunpoint. The man was visibly shivering, and beside him were the remains of a rather small Knightmare. Kallen descended her Knightmare, and Lelouch followed, easily jumping the distance to the ground.

"So…" Kallen started, holding the handgun she'd grabbed from the cockpit of the Guren. "Where are the rest of your friends?"

"I won't tell you anything!" The man spat, a heavy accent threading through his words. Lelouch walked up to Kallen, standing beside her.

"I have to be touching him in order to see his memories." He said carefully. "It would be difficult to explain to Gino and Anya why you suddenly know where his allies are."

Kallen took the hint, and waved Gino and Anya off to guard the entrance of the overhang. Lelouch started to approach the man when a radio at his ear crackled lowly and he began laughing.

"Your princess is dead! Her stupid Britannian knight tried to save her, but he got shot too! Serves you all right, you stupid Brits. The prince will be next, and then that useless Empress—then there will be _real_ peace in the world!"

Lelouch froze, horrified, but a glance from Kallen had him stepping forward with her as she put the gun to the man's head and Lelouch thrust his fingers into his temple.

oOo

So I have a question regarding taking prompts…If the prompt has already been filled and I want to write a different take on it, is that allowed/courteous? Also, should I post it where the prompt is? I'm new to taking prompts, but there are a few I'd like to write…


	14. Chapter 14

**PLEASE READ:**

**Okay. Because of the amount of inconsistencies and plot holes and the general awfulness of this fic, I'm probably going to be taking it down in the next few weeks. I don't really have the time to edit it right now. Or, if I don't remove it, it'll more of a pet project than something that I'm trying to make pretty. I kinda want to finish it, and have the general idea planned out, but if it's bothering people then I'll put it up when it's been fixed.**

**On a similar note, if there are any betas out there that have enormous amounts of free time and like editing great big limping monsters like this one, feel free to PM me.**

**I don't own Code Geass.**

**Thanks to everyone who'd reviewed!**

oOo

**Chapter Fourteen**

When Lelouch entered the man's head, he was not gentle. He roughly shoved the man's thoughts aside, making him yell and squirm and forcing Kallen to pin him to the ground so that Lelouch could continue.

Froth started dribbling from the side of his mouth as Lelouch probed deeper. He found a memory that had more of the small Knightmares in it and zoned in on it, causing the man to scream again as he pushed through another memory, completely destroying it.

And suddenly, he was in the memory. Around him were more of the smaller Knightmares—Lelouch recognized them as a model that had been rejected because of its small stature. It was good for stealth and a bit of speed but not much else, as it lacked the strength and defenses to go up against most any other Knightmare.

There were men around him, speaking in Japanese with a few words of Chinese thrown in every now and then. Lelouch thanked his time in Japan for his knowledge of the language. The memory was a bit old, but it showed that the forces of the Black Hearts hadn't really grown since Lelouch had discreetly done his best to put down their rebellion. Their main base hadn't changed places (meaning Lelouch was right), but those remaining had become very good at stealth attacks. As Lelouch and the others had just found out.

Lelouch memorized the rough hiding places of the remaining Black Hearts before roughly pulling his hands out of the man's head. By then, the man was unconscious, froth still dripping from the side of his mouth. Kallen dropped his shirt, where she'd been holding him down.

"Gross. What'd you do?"

"I read his memories."

"Is it always that violent?" Kallen put a hand up to the radio in her ear to call Gino and Anya back.

"Not nearly. He didn't particularly earn my respect enough for me to even try."

"Remind me never to mess with you. Even as a ghost, you're scary!" Kallen grinned a bit, softening the last statement.

Lelouch smiled a bit too, almost sadly. "The others are returning?" The sound of landspinners against pavement answered for Kallen. "Good. Well, we should return to the Guren. I'll give you the approximate places for the remaining Black Hearts."

"Right. But first—" Kallen leaned down and took the man's radio, crushing it beneath the heel of her boot. "Alright, let's go."

oOo

Back in the Guren, Lelouch was directing Kallen where to place the approximate positions of the other soldiers. Rather, he was attempting to, due to a rather annoying lack of understanding on Kallen's part. It had generally been Lelouch's job to send coordinates, and the Guren was more suited to fighting, unlike Lelouch's old Shinkirō, which had had a large keyboard.

When Lelouch voiced his (slightly annoying) complaints, Kallen had turned off her radio and said "You should talk to Suzaku, then. The Phantom's been fitted with a less advanced version of the Shinkirō's controls. Actually, why didn't you just go with Suzaku?" She asked before turning her radio back on.

"I—ah, I did. I just fell out the back of the cockpit. I'm still getting a handle on being able to phase through things."

Kallen chuckled a bit as she sent to coordinates off to the other Knightmares.

oOo

Meanwhile, one of Cornelia's soldiers had managed to pick up a rather weak distress signal from Guilford's Knightmare. Suzaku had gone with the soldier to investigate and had subsequently managed to get himself into the middle of a fight.

It turned out that Cornelia's Knightmare had been completely destroyed by a rocket, but she'd just barely managed to eject in the last second, meaning that she hadn't been able to get very far. Guilford had immediately jumped from his Knightmare to get the injured princess out of the cockpit and drag her up to safety, but had been noticed after placing her in his own Knightmare and been shot in the right shoulder by a soldier that had exited her own Knightmare in order to investigate Cornelia's twisted and burnt one.

He'd managed to close his Knightmare, and had quickly beaten down the soldier that had shot him, but not before the woman had managed to return to her own gray Knightmare and strike at him, further damaging his before sending a distress signal of her own.

Hence the fight. Suzaku was chasing down another of those miniature Knightmares, keeping it away from Guilford's disabled Gloucester, when his screen beeped with Kallen's coordinate message.

"All those that can still hear me and are able to fight, track down the remaining Knightmares. Try to capture one—otherwise, don't hold back!"

Several voices cried "Yes, Lord Zero!" along with Gino's exuberant "Alright!" and Anya's affirmative "Hm."

oOo

By the time the last Black Heart had been captured or killed, Lelouch had managed to make himself feel _very_ insignificant.

Cornelia and Guilford had immediately been rushed to the few trucks that had arrived on the scene for medical assistance.

Suzaku, still one to give the option of surrender over death, had managed to capture seven Black Hearts and had been forced to kill more.

Kallen had had to tie that number in deaths, and the others had done their best to keep up.

Lelouch had sat in the back of the Guren for three hours before a sharp turn had somehow forced him out the side of the cockpit. Without any contact to his friends, he'd worried, mostly for their health and partially for Suzaku and his martyr complex.

He'd gone and waited by the trucks (not really being able to do much else) and, surrounded by guards, had watched over his unconscious sister while the others did their thing.

Soon enough, prisoners had been inspected and loaded into the backs of the trunks. Cornelia and Guilford were taken back in their own truck with a few guards and EMTs while one soldier was sent to collect Guilford's damaged Knightmare. The tank and trucks had driven off, followed by a convoy of Knightmares.

The small grey Knightmares had been destroyed, with the exception of one that Jeremiah and Anya were towing for Rakshata and Lloyd to study.

It seemed as if everyone had made it back safely.

oOo

As soon as the door closed behind them, Suzaku removed his mask, grinning and eager to inform the Empress that the Black Hearts had been taken care of. Kallen followed shortly, chatting amiably with Sayoko as she wheeled Nunnally into the waiting room.

As both of them launched into their narratives, Nunnally smiled lightly, gasping as she heard about Lelouch's part in the proceedings and her sister's injury. After assuring her that both Cornelia and Guilford would be fine with time, Suzaku paused when Nunnally put up her hand to ask for silence.

"This is all very good," She said slowly. Suzaku's smile dropped a bit at the worried tone.

"But where, exactly, is my brother?"

oOo

**Reviews are much appreciated.**


	15. Chapter 15

**In response to a review I got from Sodar (thanks to reviewers, by the way!) I would like to say that if you've managed to make it this far, congrats! I apologize for awful writing and/or badly thought out chapters. Seriously. **

**The main reason for that is that I'm focusing a lot more on school and stuff right now, and have been updating this when I have free time—which is not often. So, it's really something that flows with my whims and that I'm focusing on finishing rather than making it pretty.**

**Other than that, I apologize for the long author note. I do not own Code Geass.**

oOo

**Chapter Fifteen**

It seemed Lelouch just couldn't catch a break. He'd been left behind again.

…Was this going to become a pattern?

It didn't matter anyway. The last time had been partially his fault. This time, though…did being a ghost just make him a burden? Was he so far in the back of everyone's minds that he wasn't even worth remembering to take home from a battlefield? As much as he hated relying on others for 'mundane,' things, he'd have thought that he was more important than that.

Maybe they didn't want him around. Too much of a bad memory. No, that wasn't a pang of hurt he felt in his chest. It was just…worry. That he'd never figure out how to leave the human world for his afterlife. That was all. He wasn't hurt that no one seemed to care…again.

Granted, the only two who'd been able to see him had been Suzaku and Kallen, but he'd thought that they still saw him as a friend, especially after knowing (or in Kallen's case, figuring out) his Zero Requiem plan.

Maybe he was just too much of a bad memory for them and the only reason they'd kept him around this long—put up with his presence—was to use him to protect Nunnally.

…He guessed he didn't mind. Both Kallen and Suzaku were capable of taking care of Nunnally without him. He'd trusted them enough to leave her with them the first time, and he could probably trust them enough the second time.

No point in worrying. Nope, he wasn't…worrying, that is. And those weren't tears. He wasn't afraid of being alone. He'd managed it fine the first time—as emperor—and he could do it again. He should probably be selfish for a little while, maybe go find what it was that would allow him to move on. This world held too many bad memories after all. Well, not all bad memories. But still.

Lelouch stood up from his perch next to the road that the Knightmares had taken him. If anyone could have seen him, they would have noticed a slight tremor in his shoulders before he shook himself. They'd have noticed how his shoulders stiffened and his spine straightened, and how he gritted his teeth with determination. If they were particularly observant, they might have noticed one last tear drop down his face before he angrily scrubbed it away with the sleeve of his jacket.

With renewed determination, Lelouch nodded once in the direction of the mansion before setting off in the opposite direction on his own.

oOo

After the terrible discovery that they'd managed to leave Lelouch behind (again, in Suzaku's case), both had wanted to return immediately to search for the lost ghost.

Nightfall kind of prevented that, especially when both were required to provide support for Nunnally as she went on television and announced exactly what had happened and assured the general population that there wasn't anything to worry about.

By the time Suzaku had managed to return as inconspicuously as possible to the battlefield, the area was missing one ghost and had a distinctly heavy atmosphere.

It seemed Lelouch had been lost for good this time.

oOo

**Just a short chapter to tide you over.**

**ANNOUNCEMENT: **_**Limbo**_** will probably be finishing rather soon. I've kinda…just lost the fire to write it. One of the next two or three chapters will probably be the last. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

_Fifty Years Later_

Suzaku sighed, leaning his head on one hand as he reviewed the papers in front of him. Behind him, Nunnally sat comfortably in an armchair, reading a book. A fire roared in the fireplace of the little cottage.

Tomorrow was the anniversary of Lelouch's death. There were no longer riots or parties on its date every year, though some people still celebrated the passing of the Demon Emperor. However, he and Nunnally still had to be careful with what they were going to do. It wasn't like flowers appeared on the grave of a tyrant that often.

They'd actually made it into a ritual, and a bit of a game. Paid their respects to the gravestone, even though they knew in their hearts that he was still out there somewhere. They left flowers, as a sign to a certain ghost that, should he stop by, there were people who still missed him. Together, they spent one day mourning, not just for the passing of a great man but also for the loss of a great friend and the disappearance of a fragile soul.

The game was that they weren't allowed to mourn more than one day. The next day, Zero and the Empress would be up and traveling, moving around the world under the guise of suppressing any lingering parties. Meanwhile, Suzaku and Nunnally searched for their lost friend. They allowed themselves one week, and after that, forced themselves to wait until the next year. Sayoko and Kallen had joined them in the past, until their deaths ten years and two years before, respectively. In retrospect, Suzaku had been surprised that Kallen had gone to the afterlife before him. He decided the 'live' Geass was what had kept him healthy into his old age.

That being said, Suzaku had long since 'officially' given up the helm of Zero. Empress Nunnally had also chosen a successor, one of Cornelia's grandchildren that had been raised by the cunning pink-haired princess and the intelligent Prince Schneizel and would make a fine emperor. It was just known that the Empress and the old Zero traveled together for old time's sake anyway, both having been prepared for death for a few years.

Their game was special to them, and carefully thought out. It allowed them time to hope but kept them from wasting away their lives as they wound down. Nunnally had aged gracefully, lines in her face only serving to make her more beautiful and hair just as soft. Suzaku knew that he'd probably be dead, or close to death without the 'live' Geass; the extreme activity of his youth had shortened his natural lifespan, as it had Kallen's and several other top Knightmare pilots. As it was, he already felt slower, though his eyes never lost their youthful mirth.

After their one week of searching, they went back to their cottage, a nice cozy building far away from politics. The Empress and Nunnally directed the government from there when they needed to, but both had given up almost all of their power in favor of the new Zero and up-and-coming Emperor. When they weren't needed, they spend the rest of their days living peacefully and companionably, wishing for their lost ghost.

oOo

Traveling was becoming harder for the pair. By the time they returned (very early in the morning) from their week, Nunnally was worn out, and Suzaku carried her straight to bed. He closed the door to a room already filled with the heavy breathing of sleep, and went to the kitchen to make some tea (decaffeinated) and try and sort out his thoughts.

The way he'd been feeling lately, he knew that he didn't have much time left. Some of his joints had been creaking more than usual, and he knew, Geass or no, that Death would come and claim him soon. He'd already made arrangements for Nunnally to stay with the new Emperor until her death, and knew that she would be well taken care of; the man adored his great aunt and would be sad to see her go.

Zero was taken care of, and Lelouch's perfect world was still intact. That just left one loose end for Suzaku, and he was beginning to get the niggling feeling that it would never be tied up.

He sighed, swirling his tea. "I wish you'd come back, send a sign, anything. Just let us see you one more time."

The last thing he expected was a movement at the door. Suzaku dropped his mug, flinching as it shattered on the tile floor and reached for a gun that wasn't there. Whirling, he came face-to-face with—

Purple. Black hair. Sad smirk. Transparency (much more that before).

Tears pricked his eyes. "Lelouch. You came back."

The familiar (and so, so missed) teenage face contorted into a grin. "Yeah. I came back."

oOo

It took a lot of convincing to get Lelouch to stay. He was clearly tired, but had told Suzaku that he'd only intended to peek in on them, hopefully without them knowing, in order to get a last glimpse before the last of his friends (family) left the Earth forever.

Of course, Suzaku couldn't have that. He'd made Lelouch promise to at least stay the rest of the night, and then they'd sat down to catch up.

It had turned out that Lelouch had taken his final abandonment as a subtle 'go away' from those who could see him, and, always the one to sacrifice his own happiness, had complied. He'd thought they didn't want a reminder of their tragic past hanging around, and Suzaku had tried not to cry as he'd remembered that Lelouch had always been bad at judging what people had really wanted. Nunnally had been the perfect example.

He said he'd spent the next half-decade traveling. He'd dropped in on C.C. (who was well on her way to conning another poor Geass holder the last he'd seen her), and admitted to finding Nunnally and Suzaku at least once a year, even if from a distance, to make sure that they were alright.

"Did you ever find what you needed to move on?" Suzaku asked, casually bringing up the subject as he stared out the window at the moon. The look on the ghost's face had been answer enough, and Suzaku felt his heart break. This wasn't fair to the ghost of a man that had been through so much already. It was worse, even, than being a Code holder.

Silence filled the space between them for a time after until Lelouch broke it with a simple statement.

"I'll miss you."

_Ah. _Suzaku thought. _Here's the part I wanted to avoid._

Lelouch had paused, before a determined look came over his face. "I know you don't have much longer. Nunnally too—Euphie's been doing her best to insist I won't be alone, but you and I both know that the two of you are getting on in years, and Nunnally's…accident as a child has probably shortened her lifespan enough that she won't have much longer either…"

He paused, shoulders shaking, and Suzaku wished, more than anything at that very moment, that he could hug the ghost.

"You don't have to—"

Lelouch held up a hand, cutting Suzaku off. His voice trembled as he said "Just let me finish, please. I need to say this." He waited for a second, let the shaking in his shoulders stop and regained control of his voice. "I just need to say…I'm glad I met you. You were always my best friend, even when you…weren't. Thank you for carrying out my Requiem and looking after Nunnally all of these years. Even if I'm stuck on this planet for the next thousand years, I won't forget you."

With that, the ghost gave Suzaku one last sad smile, and, as light started filtering into the windows, turned as if to leave. Suzaku automatically reached out as if to grab his wrist, but his hand passed through Lelouch's arm. It still made the ghost pause and look expectantly at Suzaku though.

The ex-soldier took a deep breath. "Please. Don't leave again. Just stay. Even if you hate me for making you, just stay."

And the ghost agreed.

oOo

When Nunnally woke late the next day, she heard voices echoing from the kitchen down the hall. Curious and a bit unnerved as to who could possibly be visiting (since everyone else who knew who Zero was had died), she lifted herself into her wheelchair and rolled quietly down the hall.

She guessed by the smell that Suzaku was attempting to make pancakes while a…_familiar_ voice scolded him. She entered the kitchen, putting one hand to her mouth and gasping at the sight.

Her spectral brother looked up from where he'd perched on the counter to lecture Suzaku about the right way to cook. A beatific smile came over his face.

Despite not being able to feel Lelouch's embrace, Nunnally decided it was one of the warmest she'd ever had.

oOo

The little trio spent their time blissfully together for the next five years. Nunnally was thrilled to have her brother, especially after such a long time, and Suzaku was doing his best to make sure that the three of them spent as much of their waning time together as possible.

Lelouch knew that this time would not last for long. When he thought neither of his companions was looking, he would sink into a deep depression, eyes misting over as he dreaded the days when he would be truly alone, in a fate worse than C.C's. Sometimes when this happened, Euphie would speak up and try to convince him that there was hope, that he could still find what would bring him to the afterlife. She eventually learned that ever her optimism was unable to break through her brother's depression, and stopped trying, despite the undying feeling that her brother, for all his faults, had sacrificed himself and _deserved better than this._

But fate is a tricky thing. By the time the sixth year came with Lelouch back in Nunnally and Suzaku's companionship, it became clear that, surprisingly, Nunnally would be the first of the trio to leave them. Never one of the strongest in body, despite her mind rivaling Lelouch's own in determination, she began to show signs of tiredness, weakness, and slipping away. One night, while both Suzaku and Lelouch sat by her bedside and each held a hand, she took her last breath and passed on.

Lelouch was numb for the next month. He knew he should have found some way to help Suzaku with the funeral preparations, but he simply couldn't. He didn't feel, and barely talked at all until the day Suzaku finally yelled at him that _he _was still alive and _yes it was true _she had gone but Lelouch would undoubtedly see her again in the afterlife. And he'd made Lelouch promise to spend all of his energy looking for his reason to move on as soon as Suzaku had passed.

This had gone over like a ton of bricks, but it allowed Lelouch the strength to focus more and kept him from drifting. While this was happening, Suzaku made morbid preparations for someone to check on him at the cottage once a week to be sure that he was still living and to take his body for burial once he died. Lelouch insisted that he reveal himself to the new Emperor under strict orders to keep the affair quiet in order to be buried in the site where 'Suzaku Kururugi, Knight of Zero' had originally been buried, so that his body would be mere feet away from his beloved Emperor's.

Eventually, as all things must, the time came. Lelouch refused to let Suzaku wear his Zero uniform and mask anymore because, even though he didn't say it directly to his friend, he wanted Suzaku to be able to die as his own person. He didn't care about the consequences, though he doubted that the Suzaku's identity would get out.

"But if it does…" Lelouch had told an ailing Suzaku. "I'll probably haunt whoever knows so that they know not to continue telling other people. It'll be fun, don't worry."

Suzaku had laughed and told him he was sure it would be.

Finally, though, there came one night with Lelouch sitting vigil by Suzaku's bed where Suzaku had suddenly jerked awake, eyes flying open to find Lelouch's. There was a pause, and Suzaku lifted one hand towards Lelouch, who grabbed it and held on using pure willpower.

"I'll wait for you…with Nunnally…" Suzaku whispered. Lelouch nodded, and pressed his forehead to Suzaku's hand as his bright green eyes went dark. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he was suddenly, truly alone.

oOo

The next day, the Emperor himself showed up at the front door. Lelouch, who had been keeping a solemn watch over Suzaku's body, went to greet the intruders. After knocking several times on the door, a guard had unlocked it and the Emperor stepped across the threshold. Lelouch stood in the middle of the tiny greeting room and watched as the man paused, seeming to sense something, before turning to his guard and the Zero following him and ordering them to go back outside.

The guards and Zero protested, of course, but the Emperor was steady in his demand, and they soon slunk away, leaving the man to shut the front door behind them.

The man stood in silence, glancing curiously around the room, his body held with poise and his casual yet elegant clothes stating clearly who he was. He looked remarkably like his grandmother, with purple-pink hair and violet eyes that glittered with sharp intelligence.

After a moment he turned to face Lelouch, eyes focusing on the ghost easily. "It's nice to get the chance to meet my great uncle Lelouch." He said calmly.

Lelouch froze, instantly calculating all of the ways he could disappear in the next ten seconds. He'd started to move when the Emperor said "Wait, please. Sir Kururugi told me everything."

Possibly noticing the murderous look on Lelouch's face, he said "I swore to him, and I will to you, that your secrets are safe with me. I do have one thing that I wish to ask, if alright with you?" A pause. "Can you speak?"

Lelouch chuckled despite himself. The new emperor was young, but from the times he'd visited before, Lelouch knew that he would be both smart and compassionate enough to hold his position well. "Of course I can. I'll listen."

"May I share your story with my Zero? He's become one of my greatest friends, and I know that he is trustworthy."

Lelouch nodded, before remembering the reason why he'd gotten to know this man so well. He'd been visiting once a month, joining the weekly visit because…

"Actually, I need you to help with something." Lelouch said, his tone sobering. The Emperor recognized the tone at once, and followed Lelouch into Suzaku's bedroom.

"I can't shut his eyes." Lelouch said softly.

The Emperor complied with Lelouch's hidden request, then turned to the ghost. "I'm not trying to be rude, but why are you still here?"

"Hm?"

"Why are you still on Earth? Surely there is no one left for you to look after."

Lelouch looked out the window at the steadily rising sun. "It's not really my choice."

Thankfully the Emperor left it at that, moving to call his guards. "We'll take good care of Sir Kururugi. He's asked to be buried next to you in his original plot. I'll make sure that everyone is sworn to secrecy. There are some in the palace that already know just a bit because of Sir Kururugi's involvement, especially those related to my grandmother and great uncle Schneizel."

For the first time in a while, Lelouch felt a heavy pressure suddenly inside of his head. Pushing it away, he exclaimed "Wait!"

The Emperor paused. Lelouch pointed to the ground beside Suzaku. "The…mask. If you're going to hide his identity for now, you'll need it."

The man did as he was told, carefully covering Suzaku's face with that mask before leaving the room. Lelouch hated it; hated that he couldn't protect his friend's body, hated that he had to cover his face after his death. However…

He turned to Suzaku, bowed, and said farewell. There would be nothing for him to gain by staying by his side, and if he ever truly wanted to see friends and family again, he had to find what would allow him to. Suzaku's body was in good hands.

He left the cottage by the back door, pausing in the backyard. The pressure in his head had increased. Lelouch tried not to worry about it and hoped that it didn't mean that his connection to Earth had become stronger than the one to the afterlife.

_Euphie?_ He thought tentatively. She didn't respond, and Lelouch worried. He walked down the path to the little garden, suddenly stopping when he walked into a shaft of light and the pressure became a blinding pain.

_Euphie?! What's happening? _He fell to his knees, hands gripping his head and wondering if there was any way that he could get help from someone, _anyone_, but the cottage was out of view and he couldn't move.

There was a sudden rushing sound in his ears, and Lelouch felt something _tug_ on him. He raised one hand and watched with fascination and horror as it began to dissolve, leaving particles that glowed in the light.

_Lelouch, let go. Calm down._ Euphie's lulling voice echoed through his head, soothing the pain.

_What is this?_

_Come back to us. You've served your purpose. _Euphie's voice suddenly became the echoing of many voices. Lelouch recognized them.

_Big brother, come home._ Nunnally.

_You were a good leader. It's time to rest._ Kallen.

_We've been waiting_. Sayako.

_You've done the right thing._ Suzaku.

_Relax. Let it happen. Return to us._ Euphie finished, and Lelouch, calmed by the voices of those who had remembered and seen him, closed his eyes and let go.

oOo

When he opened his eyes, Lelouch found himself surrounded by those he'd known during his life. All were smiling at him, and none seemed angry anymore that he'd been such a horrible person. Lelouch guessed that dying meant you got to learn the truth.

"Why am I here?" He asked quietly, turning to his beautiful, amazing guardian angel, Euphie.

"You've done what was required of you." She smiled serenely, sweeping an arm gracefully out at the people surrounding Lelouch. "Because you abandoned everyone so early, and for such a reason, you were required to keep them company until their ends."

A bright eyed Nunnally walked forward to kneel beside him. "You remember that all I really wanted was to stay with you." She stated firmly. "I didn't want a perfect world without you there to enjoy it with me. This was my wish as well as the wish of all your friends. Even towards the end, many of us could not truly hate you, and because of that, you were forced back as a ghost to celebrate the new world with us."

"But the world wasn't perfect." Lelouch said, remembering the attack against his sister.

"Yes, but the world needed you in it to be perfect, and because you were there we were able to make it so." Suzaku had come to sit cross-legged next to Lelouch, his face and body as young as they had been when Lelouch died. "We needed you."

Lelouch smiled tentatively, the first real one since Nunnally had died. He looked up at Euphie, who'd been watching and had tears in her eyes. "So…what now?"

Euphie grinned. "Now, we enjoy each other's company. This is heaven, the afterlife, what-have-you. It's a reward, and more. You've done good in your life, and we love you."

The former Demon Emperor and ghost let out a deep breath. For the first time since his mother had died, he felt that everything would be alright.

"Thank you."

oOo

On Earth, the Emperor pondered why he'd never seen the rather unhappy-looking ghost again. He'd wanted to speak with the ghost, learn about his life and how he'd come to be so misunderstood.

Well. The Emperor smiled faintly, watching the light from his study window show the playing of dust and the glittering of a rainbow after a short spring storm.

He was probably in a better place.

oOo

**Done and done! **

**Thank you for reading this far! I hope you enjoyed. I probably won't be editing it again, at least not for a while. In the meantime, feel free to check out some of the other things I've written. :D **

**I hope this was a good ending for all of you. Were you expecting it to finish like this?**

**Review, please!**


End file.
